Celtic Crusaders given Super League franchise for 2009-2011 along with Salford and current 12 Super League clubs.

Up the Penybont wee Crues. I'm not keen on no relegation for three years, mind.

What sort of crowds will they get?

They've been getting 2,000-3,000 in NL2 and NL1. I'd imagine with the likes of Wigan and St Helens coming down that would increase to a healthy 5,000 - 6,000 if not more

Highest Attendance:
6,152 vs Featherstone Rovers (3rd May 2008)

I see the violent nutjobs of Harlequins RL have got a franchise. Nice to see The Stoop will remain in use over summer.

Widnes now in the wilderness.

There goes a Rugby League town with a substantial history, a hotbed of youth development in the game and a fine new stadium down the pan and replaced by "development opportunities".

Fuck Celtic Crusaders and the RL in equal measure.

Oh, and Widnes pulled a crowd of 8,100 - highest ever in NL1 - a couple of weeks ago if we are really talking potential.

Where are the Celtic Crusaders (terrible name) based?

Penybont/ Bridgend.

Fair points by Tony C. Down the wee Crues, then.

Totally agree Tony C - franchising is bollocks, however to blame the Crusaders for the ills of the RFL's system seems a tad unfair - why "fuck the Crusaders" more than any other team?

Fair point - it's not down to Crusaders. I'm just seriously pissed off with this.

As you may know - or may not - I'm a Widnes fan and have been since we moved into the town in 1984 and I'm taking this badly. It's is not the first time we have been shafted by the RL and this club really has a right to feel aggrieved for all the reasons I outlined above.

Essentially Widnes is an ingrained RL town with a passion for the game. It hurts when you realise that this means nothing.

So fuck the RL then. I'd have a little respect for them if they made similarly "tough decisions" when coming down hard on the likes of Wigan who have now been found brazenly ignoring the salary cap (i.e. cheating) three times but have received nothing more than a finger wagging (if, indeed, even that). But in terms of taking on the big boys they are more pathetically toothless than the PL.

Yes, I gathered you are a Widnes fan from the reaction. I have fond memories of watching Widnes and Jonathan Davies take on the Canterbury Crusaders and Mal Meninga in Old Trafford for the World Club Championship in 1989ish.

Down in Bridgend on Saturday the fans were not confident at all that the RFL would give them a franchise. They felt the 'RFL club would look after its own' i.e. keep it up north of England.

Obviously someone was going to be shafted and I firmly believe that it should be just a promotion/relegation issue, which quite possibly would have given them Salford and the Crusaders anyway.

(Although not the way the Crusaders played on Saturday.)

"Obviously someone was going to be shafted and I firmly believe that it should be just a promotion/relegation issue, which quite possibly would have given them Salford and the Crusaders anyway".

And you would not have heard one single word of complaint from Widnes had that happened.

An interesting little item here that I found on an League website - the official RL SL franchise criteria list with the respective scores/points of both Crusaders and Widnes.




CELTIC CRUSADERS

CRITERIA

YES/NO


PTS




Capacity of 12,000 +
NO
0




Premier competition standard ground
NO
0




Average crowd of 10,000 +
NO
0




Operating at 40 per cent full
NO
0




Turn over £4million +
NO
0




Solvent
YES
1




Contribution to competition
NO
0




Junior development
YES
1




No salary cap breaches
YES
1




No club within 20 miles
YES
1




GRAND TOTAL

4




LICENSING GRADE

C




WIDNES VIKINGS

CRITERIA

YES/NO


PTS




Capacity of 12,000 +
YES
1




Premier competition standard ground
YES
1




Average crowd of 10,000 +
NO
0




Operating at 40 per cent full
NO
0




Turn over £4million +
NO
0




Solvent
YES
1




Contribution to competition
NO
0




Junior development
YES
1




No salary cap breaches
YES
1




No club within 20 miles
NO
0




GRAND TOTAL

5




LICENSING GRADE

B

Admittedly, mine is just a passing interest in Rugby League seeing that we can't see it in TV over here (Malta) and there is no Rugby League championships as such.

However, I would think that whilst they (Celtic Crusaders) might have a decentish home following, away support will be terrible: won't that impact on the overall attraction of the game?

Incidentally, I'm reading Season in the Sun about the first ten years of Rugby League and have found it inadequate and repetitive (and bordering on boring). Are there any better books about RL out there?

Dave Hadfield of the Independent is my favourite RL writer and he has a few books available the best being 'XIII Winters' and 'XIII Worlds'.

Geoffrey Moorhouse's 'At The George' and 'A People's Game' are also pretty good.

The Celtic Crusaders thing seems very much an expansion attempt. I think if Quins were excluded from a Union franchise affair for a similar sort of thing I'd be very narked as well.

I also wonder how successful they're ever likely to be, given the hostility towards League that still exists in many parts of Wales.