there guilty of employing people without the proper work permits, that carries a maximum fine of 10k per employee, it does not matter who is at fault (unless its the actual border agency i guess) the fines can still be imposed as its the employers responsibilityto ensure every employee is cleared to work in this country

I would guess the UK Border agency would have taken advise from the sports governing body on the ' content ' of that paperwork being correct when submitted

As for it being bad , possibly not , opening as big a can of worms as this might be could be good for the sport in the long run

A more open honest sport

Err. No they're not. They might be suspected of it. There might be a case to investigate (or not). But they're not guilty.

I understand the government feels the need to flex it's muscles, but for sake is such a heavy stance really needed over a bit of paperwork? do they have to be so unyielding?

They are tax paying sportsmen, not baddies intent on grand destruction with a ton of explosives and a body pack in the principality.

they can, but as of yet havent,

you dont know in what way these visas werent valid, it wasnt a case of not having the correct paperwork, but that paperwork not being valid,

and not valid in a way which has meant the UKBA havent stopped them entering the country at least TWICE

as i said, WHEN they are found guilty of somthing, we should punish and castigate them, when they HAVENT, we would just look silly doing so


almost like we were waiting for something to go wrong and are jumping full force on anything we can clutch at

No they are not, they are guilty of employing people without visas. Work permits are not the same as visas. Visas allow someone entry to the country and are provided by the UK Borders Agency, work permits allow someone to work in this country and are provided on the RFL's recommendation. The players would have been turned away at the border if they did not have a work permit. My guess is that they were on working holiday visas which have now expired. Don't let that take away from your joy at the slightest hint of a struggling expansion club possibly running into financial trouble though.

But a UKBA spokesman said: "We are still continuing to investigate any potential offences that the club may have committed."

While the club have not been found guilty of any wrong doing yet it seems there is still some distance to run in this saga.

How do you know the experts at the UKBA took months to investigate? There's no mention of that in the article.

I feel mostly sorry for the fans really but it seems that the club have been fast tracked into a position they were not really prepared to be in and left to their own devices. It is now evident that the club should have had more administrative support from the RFL and personally I would have like to see MM stay in Cardiff for at least another year which should have helped develop the fan base.

You forgot to mention the other unsuccessful applicants.

hear hear. i'll support whatever team comes from wales in the first instance and the sport as a whole. it thanks to the crusaders that even when im thinking of moving elsewhere my first thought is what league is around, whether its bristol, spain germany or mexico. this is just as much our sport as anyone else's!

to be fair i think the club were planning a clear out anyway, any fine might be fought more vigorously

There are a lot of bitter views on this thread, mostly originating from NL fans.

Fact is RL needs a strong welsh national side to grow the international game and improve the money coming into the game, profile, demographics etc, to do that we have to build the celtic crusaders over time. It was inevitable they would struggle initially, let's judge them on their progress over 3 years.

Yes they've been caught out, they took a risk as they had a thread bare squad.

Teams with poor demographics and poor location will not move RL to the next level. SO, Let's get behind Celtic Crusaders for the benefit of RL,

Wigan, Saints and Leeds all have a poor demographic don't they?

Get rid I say

That's exactly Right. Celtic have known for months these players were going, they also knew they were not upto SL standard so it can be seen as a blessing in disguise, providing they can bring in new better quality players.

No

hth