Crusaders enter the Championship One league as a new club – Rugby League News
Crusaders’ fans showed support for their franchise in their future endeavours by showing up in great numbers at Racecourse Ground, on September 30, as the club joined the Championship One league.
The club is yet to decide its new name in the second-tier Co-operative Championship 2012 season. Currently the club has narrowed down three names which include Glyndwr Crusaders, Cambrian Crusaders or North Wales Crusaders. The finalised name will be decided
through an online polling process. The franchise has decided to go with a name change because they will be entering a new league in the upcoming season and want to choose a new name for a fresh start.
The Crusaders Supporter Club and Save the Cru Organisation will be financing the new club, which is all set to embark on a journey as a Championship One franchise next year.
While commenting about the Crusaders’ new beginning, Jamie Thomas, the spokesman for the Save the Cru campaign said, “There is a long way to go but we are hopeful that the new club will launch in a similar vein to Rochdale and Hunslet, who are doing well
with having no single owner, which is where Crusaders and others have failed in the past.”
In 2011, the Welsh franchise had applied to participate in the Super League licensing process to be part of the league games until 2015 but the management soon realised tha the poor financial health of the club will not allow it to continue with their representation
in the Super League. Therefore, the owners of the Welsh club decided to withdraw from the licencing process, just a day prior to the announcement of the fourteen lucky Super League franchises until 2015.
The withdrawal decision of the franchise was a shock for its fans and the players alike. Since then, there has been an out flux of players from Crusaders to find themselves future employment in other clubs.
With their Super League dream put on hold until 2015, the club will start afresh from the bottom of the professional hierarchy. They will continue to practice in Racecourse Ground, which has been bought by Glyndwr University.
While speaking about the support shown by Crusaders’ fans, Chris Thair, a member of the RFL's club support unit said, “I was very encouraged to see a high number of people present who care so passionately about the Crusaders and rugby league in North Wales.
There was a real sense of unity and purpose within the room and I came away very encouraged.”
The club hopes that the new league and new name will allow them to rebuild their franchise into a profitable and winning squad.
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