Quite the opposite no club has been treated more favourably. Samuels was going to pull the plug on Celtic Crusaders if they did not get a SL licence, not enough effort was put into giving Welsh players game time, they went into administration, changed their name and changed location, then we have the mis-administration of the club (it makes HKR look like the model of professionalism). On top of this the club have treated the players and fans appallingly along with being dishonest to the RFL whilst taking a great deal of practical support from the RFL the RFL have got nothing in return for that support.

Reality is currently the club is not in a position to see out it's licence and has been run below a standard of many conference clubs let alone a SL club.

Very fair comment though the RFL have been duped by Moss and Roberts as much as everyone else and those two will not stop until the Racecourse is bulldozed to the ground and they can build houses and flats on it.

They have a mortgage on the ground. How much that turns out to be worth remains to be seen.

The ground has been mortgaged to (among others) the RFL. I'm not sure if this would put an obstacle in the way of any such plans or not, but it certainly complicates things.

Wrexham Supporters Trust certainly hope so and anything that puts a spanner in the works has to help. Hopefully the RFL and others play hard ball but I fear others owed money might be happy to settle for a share in the profits of any future property development.

I can't recall the full list of signatories to the mortgage, but I got the impression that the RFL had the lion's share and basically own the ground if the mortgage is defaulted. Hopefully that puts them in a strong position.

Of course if Moss and Roberts fold Crusaders completely then it would complicate things further as the RFL would own a ground with no team to play in it.

That's probably the poorest reply to a comment I've seen in a while.

What does Welsh Premiership football have to do with what I said? I said the two football clubs from the two biggest cities in the country outdraw the Union sides. That they play in the English football league makes no difference.

And after Cardiff and Swansea, we are essentially talking about towns and villages. Outside of Newport, there's nothing there that even requires consideration. It would be like League outdrawing Union in NZ in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and you still making the claim that Union is bigger because it has clout in rural villages.

Not saying rugby union isn't a part of their culture, or that its not significant, but your claim that only rugby union matters is so laughable that I had no choice but to reply. On the evidence of the two biggest settlements in Wales drawing better gates in football, I'd say that there is far more to Welsh sport than rugby union. And thats without a successful national football team (on top of a successful Union team), and no presence in top flight football for eons. That rugby union is just leaving everything in its wake!

It suggests to me that League can make progress here, as long its a long term project with minimal interference.

Quote: Kosh "I can't recall the full list of signatories to the mortgage, but I got the impression that the RFL had the lion's share and basically own the ground if the mortgage is defaulted. Hopefully that puts them in a strong position. Of course if Moss and Roberts fold Crusaders completely then it would complicate things further as the RFL would own a ground with no team to play in it.'" It's a mess and this article probably sums it up better than I could www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=14047

Quote: Kosh "I can't recall the full list of signatories to the mortgage, but I got the impression that the RFL had the lion's share and basically own the ground if the mortgage is defaulted. Hopefully that puts them in a strong position. Of course if Moss and Roberts fold Crusaders completely then it would complicate things further as the RFL would own a ground with no team to play in it.'" It's a mess and this article probably sums it up better than I could www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=14047

Nail on the head and surely Crusaders, Scorpions and Cougars also play in the English Rugby League system (and to be pedantic the regions are in a system involving Scotland, Ireland and Italy) so Welsh Premiership comparisons be they football or RU are way off the mark and WRU has ruined or killed far more great clubs in setting up Regional Rugby than even the RFL has managed.

Most Welsh RU fans actually claim the opposite, they believe football is the national sport of Wales and the nobody in Cardiff or Swansea cares too much about rugby unless their father worked on the docks or came from the valleys. Fact remains they only teams that attract good crowds are the ones plaing in the English football championship this is the second biggest and the richest tier 2 competition in the world of the world's most popular sport. If those two teams were playing in the Welsh Premiership their crowds would be a fraction of what they currently are. You are plying a myth about a non-existant myth.



But it is not like for like is it? Welsh Premiership is the national domestic competition (teams compete in the football champions league the worlds biggest club competition of any sport) the Welsh RU Premiership is the tier 2 competition which contains clubs associated with the four welsh RU regions playing in Celtic League.




Swansea and Cardiff draw people from all across Wales and parts of England on home match-day mornings at Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and London Paddington stations you will see plenty of Cardiff/Swansea shirts heading south and west. As for huge number of Welsh fans following english premiership clubs the only place there is any real support is selected parts of north wales if you were talking about Northern Ireland and Rep. of Ireland I would agree but certainly not in Wales.




Is this not the same Swansea and Cardiff matches ? The same can be said of St Helens/Wigan Hull/HKR matches, the challenge cup and the SL GF. When was the last time a welsh club attracted over 40k in Swansea or Cardiiff? The Blues/OSpreys matches usually attract big crowds also.

To put some perspective on this rugby is part of the welsh character and has been for over 100 hundred years and goes back before that also much more so than football their are historical and social reasons for this but it is part of their character. Ospreys sell more shirts than cardiff do despite the ospreys only being in existence for a handful of years.

Widnes would be mental not to play an early super league game at Wrexham and possibly pick up some new fans.

Suspect theyll be siging a few more crusaders anyway.

Rather more than 2 attempts!