You mean the same Salford side virtually that got relegated from SL as opposed to the Widnes side that lost nearly all its players and had to scrape a squad together in 2008????

Doesn't take a rocket scientist that one does it?

By the way the SL licence points scoring system did not include NL1 league placings.

I think our points tally will be taken over yours this weekend, as i think we could, and should (if we play like we did against Castleford) easily put 80 past them, dependent on the score you win/lose to Huddersfield.

As a Widni speccie I do genuinely feel for the die hard CC fans, really do. However though, this was always likely to happen at some point. This time last year I was absolutely outraged everytime I heard the words 'Celtic Crusaders'. Now my bitterness is no more, just pity and so on. It is a shame but it does highlight some of the circus-like issues we have to deal with in pro rl. Anyway, despite this off field set back CC will still remain a SL outfit, and will continue to be so until they implode (which i can also see a few years from now sadly). There is so much that stinks regarding the decision last year, but I don't want to get branded as bitter so I will leave it be. As far as I am concerned we need to plug on in the division we are in and try and tick another box for next time. ie win a grand final.

Anyway bring us back and we'll light up KR again with a flare, can't beat a touch of Italiano.

Salary cap does not help and we had a e coach.If could spend more we have a better chance and more aussies. You cant make players play better and wakefield got a great coach and that why they are playing well.We just dont seem to get the right players and hope next year we do with cullen.With 300 grande cap gives all teams a chance. But on criteria,fan base,youth,finance,and stadium we do have.So in my eyes robbed.But hey ho rfl can do what they like.Next benidorm rlfc

I wonder why this was not spotted at RFL HQ, does this not reflect as much on them as a Governing body?

No Catalan is in the middle of prime RL territory and I dont even consider them an expansion club. Their home crowds justify their existance something you cannot claim for London/ Quins or Celtic.

Is that your argument then ? Tell us why Celtic deserve to be in.






....and whilst you are at it perhaps you can give us a progress report on Scarborough Pirates, Gateshead Thunder, Nottingham City, Mansfield Marksman, Liverpool, PSG, etc, etc

I don't know if anyone watched Boots'n'All tonight but they did a good job of explaining the process and what may have gone wrong. The RFL and Celtic club both gave statements as well.

I'm not going to argue with you Div because you're a parochial type when it comes to your rugby league and people who hold your view really irritate me on the whole. People who take your view would have rugby league confined to the M62 corridor and watch it die a slow death. Me, I want as many people as possible to enjoy playing and watching my favourite sport. Suffice it to say that I'm fully supportive of Celtic Crusaders.

Im not asking you to argue just to tell us your reasons, clearly through your reply you cannot really come up with anything coherent so you just choose to have a cheap shot instead.

I'm sorry ' people like me' irrate you.



I'm not even sure what ' people like me' are ?

I played the game for 29 seasons.

I have watched Saints since 1975 and home and away wee in week out since around 1978.

I travelled to Australia in 1992 for a month to support GB Lions on an Ashes tour.

Been to France several times to watch the game too.

On that basis fully aware that the game isn't confined to the M62 corridor. What I do know is that is where it is strongest. If its going to wither and die here in the likes of Cumbria, Widnes, Halifax because of someones expansionist dream at the top level we will eventually be left with clubs all over the country with nobody watching any of them.

London are now 3 decades in and I reckon still cannot top a hardcore support above 2000. Why is Celtic in a RU stronghold going to be any different ? Why are they different to the other clubs I have listed ?

We would ALL love to see the game spread far and wide but where is the evidence to support these experiments ?

What irrates me ? Pr1cks who believe everything Sky TV ram down their throats.

Did I mention Kent Invicta ?

You're wrong. I spend every home match with some guys and one of them thinks the Challenge Cup final should be played at Old Trafford because London is 'too far away'. There are some seriously parochial Saints fans out there and I've just no time for them.

How on earth do you know that this particular rugby league club will not take off in South Wales? Sometimes, timing is all. Do you know how many schools are now playing it in the vicinity of the Crusaders? I take it you know 8 of their under 18 players were included in the recent GB side? Have you seen interviews with the local lads and young men who are playing there on TV, who with their own voices say they are enjoying it and want to make it at the top level? Heard the Welsh voices?

We won't know until we try. We need to keep trying. Mistakes will be and have been made but surely that should not stop the RFL from trying? It's a pity they have made stupid decisions like the mergers of the past or moving the Magic weekend to Scotland just when it could have chimed in with the introduction of the Crusaders to SL (how dumb was that). But even so, if we want the game to be played elsewhere then we have to try and either it catches or it misses.

The only reason I support the Celtic Crusaders project is because I want to see rugby league played in as many places as possible. It's a great game to watch, I love it, and I want others to have the chance to love it too. I think that's easily a good enough reason to support the effort in Bridgend/Newport.


Yes, they irritate me, too. Thankfully, there are plenty of independent thinkers in this world to compensate.

PS: I read everything I can on Gateshead Thunder, Sheffield Eagles, London Skolars, Nottingham Outlaws, Bristol Sonics, etc, etc, etc, yes.

"On that basis fully aware that the game isn't confined to the M62 corridor. What I do know is that is where it is strongest. If its going to wither and die here in the likes of Cumbria, Widnes, Halifax because of someones expansionist dream at the top level we will eventually be left with clubs all over the country with nobody watching any of them.

London are now 3 decades in and I reckon still cannot top a hardcore support above 2000. Why is Celtic in a RU stronghold going to be any different ? Why are they different to the other clubs I have listed ? "

Answer is .....it isn't.
From a much travelled article:

Attempts to introduce professional rugby league for Welsh clubs have, to date, all failed. Merthyr Tydfil and Ebbw Vale joined for the 1907/8 season; followed closely behind Aberdare, Barry, Mid-Rhondda, and Treherbert joined in 1908/9.

Aberdare, Barry, and Mid-Rhondda dropped out after that season, with Treherbert following the next year. Merthyr Tydfil lasted until 1910/11, and Ebbw Vale was the last of these to leave, after 1911/12. The next Welsh club was Pontypridd, who joined in 1926/27; only to dropped out after 8 games of the 1927/8 season. A Cardiff club participated in the 1951/2 season, but disbanded after that season.

Following in the footsteps of Fulham (now the Harlequins Rugby League), Cardiff City F.C. decided to enter a team for the 1981/2 season. The Blue Dragons, as they were known, shared Ninian Park with the Bluebirds until the 1983/4 season, when the club went into liquidation. They were then moved to Bridgend for the 1984/5 season, where they placed on the bottom of the table, and were expelled after the season for failing to obtain a home ground. The final professional rugby league club was South Wales RLFC, who placed 6th in the Second Division in 1996. Because of small crowds, the club withdrew from the league before the next season.

In 2006 a new professional team, to be known as Celtic Crusaders entered the Rugby League National Leagues in League Two. This team is in fact a resurrection of the now defunct Celtic Warriors rugby union side.


They've had their chances in South Wales.
horse/dead/a/flogging --- rearrange at your leisure.

There is some evidence to show that both codes of rugby are losing popularity with young lads - they prefer football many travelling to Anfield and United on season tickets.

Common sense would dictate that the RFL work with the areas that have realistic chances of success not spreading the game so thinly that is just disappears.

]
Now there is a thought that would be a good weekend away "
Now there is a thought that would be a good weekend away

I fully agree, I'm a Saints fan living and working down in the south east and when I've been to Quins this is what I see.Quins(and the teams that came before) have done a lot for grass roots RL down south and there are a fair few amature teams in London and in the south east,however,these people don't seem to go and watch Quins play. These are the attendances from the Quins site regarding their last home games against Salford-2,612,against Bradford- 3,112 and against Saints- 4,258 -not good enough after 30 odd years of rugby league in London.

And as for rugby league in Wales I do think "the powers that be" are just being bloody minded-why the did'nt leave Celtic in the first division and see if they could grow there own fanbase and bring on there own players? they had to force the issue and now they have blown the very slim chance they had of a settled club in Wales !