www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/spo ... -27604483/ Its getting a bit of a joke now. They did very well last season given the circumstances they found themselves in with 3 weeks to go until kick off. But another owner again and even that is uncertain given the pension fiasco. I have looked at their attendances last season and there was some impressive ones in there at around 10K but some as low as 1.2K. There is potential so I can see why the RFL will back them where ever possible.

www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/spo ... -27604483/ Its getting a bit of a joke now. They did very well last season given the circumstances they found themselves in with 3 weeks to go until kick off. But another owner again and even that is uncertain given the pension fiasco. I have looked at their attendances last season and there was some impressive ones in there at around 10K but some as low as 1.2K. There is potential so I can see why the RFL will back them where ever possible.

Widnes will be in Super League regardless of the situation in Wales. The rfl will just manipulate a way round it, keeping the WelshAussieCrusaders in SL. Harsh on the team booted out, harsh on a team like Halifax as well who'll probably be the best team over 3 years in the Championship.

You have to bare in mind that those games were in Neath. Minus the two Neath games, which weren't really home games, their average was above 5,000. Having said that I see a pattern emerging here, and I don't for one minute trust the people in charge of them.

Widnes without a doubt will be in SL in 2012.
I believe the whole Crusaders thing in the first place was to expand the game in Wales. So what did they do, albeit not planned, spent one season in south wales then moved north, a stone throw away from the heartlands of RL
The RFL have a reason to finacially support Harlequins (to a certain extent) but what reasons do the RFL have to support Crusaders? Game expansion, Chufffffff, they've lost that perk. If feel sorry for their fans, the guys that supported them from day one, only for new owners to come in a feck them about big time.

Just like Gateshead....... Just like Sheffield........ and just like Quins (if the RFL ever stop throwing cash at them).

As much as we try and hope, RL outside the heartlands doesn't work. Why not give a Cumbrian team a similar amount of money, knowing the basics are already in place

Yet again this "RFL throwing cash at expansion clubs" piece of b*ll rears its head from know-nowts.

Would anyone care to provide even one shred of evidence of any RFL cash being used to prop up either Quins/Broncos or Crusaders?

No? Thought not.

Those who think chucking a Cumbrian team into SL clearly have very short memories as well. Workington tried it and very nearly bankrupted themselves. Whitehaven very nearly bankrupted themselves trying to get into SL in the first place. Barrow - even with the best squad on paper they've had since they were in the top division themselves - have hardly been pulling in crowds bigger than those generated by even the lowest SL clubs.

Cumbria is in no better a position to support a SL club than anywhere else.

Well if you'd give me chance

Crusaders are a disgrace.....you would never find clubs in the heartlands flirting with insolvency.

No sireee bob.

Not heartland clubs like Widnes, Leeds, Wigan, Wakefield and Bradford.

Just these expansion clubs that can't manage their finances. Kick 'em out.

if you ignore maybe 6-7 clubs then the averages for super league would be only about 5-6k and that almost certanly includeds big away support from the leeds,wigan and hull teams etc
theres a lot more interest in wrexham than i ever saw in south wales and a genuine interest in keeping the club afloat, but unless you do silly deals on pricing you have to accept that 5-6k crowds are going to be the norm there
quins on the other hand are for me in the wrong location, a ground share back nearer the centre of london would allow easier access for most plus a better chance of publicaly targeting potential new watchers via the london press

sooner or later i can see super league following the nrl example with 16 teams but not everyone playing each other twice, this would allow both widnes and halifax or tolouse to enter the league and make the play offs a way of evening things out rather than just a mini competition tagged onto the end of the season

last season showed that a professinal rugby league side has potential to be a success in wrexham but it needs the right people in charge and running the club properly. in north wales theres no real pro sport theres only really wrexham who are very poor anyway and get poor crowds so theres potential but like i say it needs the right people behind it. i for one hope they sort it out cos i feel something good can happen in wrexham and with the success of the scorpians and wales national team welsh rugby league is on a high and has potential to get alot bigger. wales rl is the fastest growing sport in wales and it would be a shame to see that change

Waste of time, money and emotion.

The RFL continually try to expand the sport outside of it's heartlands and continually it fails.

Once bitten????

You serious?!?

You think that the 20 years of pro RL in London has been cost neutral, on crowds of 2,550 - 3,000?

I can't give you catagoric proof as I dont have access to the RFL accounts for the last 2 decades, but IMO they are not (and never have been) financially viable. I don't think Branson would have lost interest after 2 seasons if there was money to be made.

But since I am a know-nowt, I will take your cast iron word that the RFL have never bailed them out