news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 207827.stm wise choice to give them a place in super league

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 207827.stm wise choice to give them a place in super league

Why is it the end of the Crusaders? It's the end of their season, granted, and Leeds now have a guaranteed 3000 points difference on everyone else, but since there are only three games left of this season and they are not contenders for the playoffs, I don't see why the club can't now focus on recruitment for next season, but sensibly and legally this time, along with their plans to move to Bridgend, etc.

surely you cant keep them in super league, in my opinion we should allow a promotion and demote them

Frankly it's embarrassing and they should be kicked out!

What a joke SL looks again!

Good job those Union Idiots are making themselves a laughing stock also!

Not that I think anything will be done by the RFL, or indeed can be done, but it does have some implications as they now play us and i think Giants after the CC so points difference could be an issue with Saints?

They've deliberately stuck their fingers up at the RFL by bringing in illegal players from day one, won games with them and wasted hours of superleague time by playing in a manner they knew they could never sustain.
There's no accident here. Time for them to be booted out. 6 players leave now. Team finishes now.
Kicking 6 players out of a team and banning them from the country for 10 yeasrs is unprecidented in the history of RL

Could it have a "big say" in how the Superleague table looks at the end of the season.

Celtics three remaining fixtures are

Leeds
Huddersfield
Castleford

personally i just think whether it was done on purpose or not they have cheated and if i was a fan of someone who got turned down for a spot in super league id be very unhappy now, open it up and have a promotion race in the championship

Widnes in and Celtic out. Enough said.

How sad some comments here, it shows how parochial our game still is! this season has been embarrassing in the rugby weekly press the whining from some clubs supporters who did not make Super League.

It is rumoured the complaint came from the Wigan area, oh no not Leigh! would that be.

[iThose in glass houses sometimes should not throw stones[/i do we remember some players involved with betting offences in RL, with the FA they handed out real sentences to those who broke rules as seen recently with player s form such as Accrington Stanley!

Yeah, well, you're not exactly in the best position to judge anyone's future, you being a bitter Widnes fan and all. It isn't the fans fault this has happened you know, so why punish them? That's what you'd be doing by kicking the club out.

This is an admin error so far as I can read into it. It isn't a deliberate ploy to deceive the authorities. God knows this government has come down hard on antipodeans playing in rugby league of late, for some obscure reason. Presumably just because they can.

This is embarrassing insofar as it makes the RFL look like the amateur bunch they truly are. They are the ruling body and should have been keeping an eye on such matters, especially given it was a new club.

And without them it could have looked exactly the same. Celtic have been crucified with injuries for the latter half of this season. Weren't most of those six missing from action anyway?

If Leeds, Huddersfield and Cas run up big scores it could effect the League table and play offs.

Mark Dalle Cort, Josh Hannay and van Dijk all played last week.

But with Celtic's injury list, that could have happened anyway.

It was a disgrace that Widnes were refused in the 1st place. This just adds fuel to the fire. They were told categorically by the RFL before they assemled their bid that going into administration and coming out of it (after they lost the 2007 playoff final) would not go against them in their application. Then the RFL refused them and Dicky Lewis even sited that as the reason. Absolute disgrace. There is no way in the world on the points scoring system that Celtic should have had a place over Widnes. From NL2 to Superleague in 2 years. It's laughable. They were never going to be good enough and it was a bad idea to bring them in so soon. Even with all these illegal Aussies they have not been competetive.

Also they virtually blackmailed the RFL with statements that if they were not given a SL licenece for 2009 that they would not survive the three years until the next window. What kind of basis is that to allow them a SL place?