You feel sorry for the fans that have invested time and money into the club, considering the main basis of their SL franchise application was to establish the game in south wales their must be a few red faces at the RFL. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 387114.stm

You feel sorry for the fans that have invested time and money into the club, considering the main basis of their SL franchise application was to establish the game in south wales their must be a few red faces at the RFL. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 387114.stm

I think its time the rfl started to realise that the game is a northern sport and probably always will be. How many clubs have tried to form in south wales and failed miserably. It's always amazes me how the Harlequins (London Broncos) have managed to keep going with such poor attendances

Maybe at the next licence application the top brass will make the right decision this team as to who they select for inclusion and grow the game in its heartland

Probably the same way Wakefield, Salford, Halifax, Fev and Leigh have.

I'm a big fan of North Wales, myself, I think the area really suits Rugby League and there are a lot of ex-pat Northerners around North Wales, many of whom are likely to be from RL towns.

As much of a farce as it has become, they were never founded under a specific geographically name, such as Warrington, but rather as a Welsh Club and they are still playing in Wales.

I bet they have bigger attendances than they did last season and bigger than London. Wrexham is good for a night out as well.

They come up with the wrong messages. "Short term pain for long term gain" They keep hinting that their future is in the South. So what exactly is going to persuade all the scouse North Waleians to attend the games or buy season tickets?

If marketed correctly, Crusaders could become the pride of North Wales. There is no other professional sports team in the area other then Wrexham FC, who have got similar attendances to Celtic in the Conference over the past two years. There is no RU hotbed either, as this is focused in South Wales mainly.

The whole things a joke.. thay should of put widnes in.

It doesn't bode well for Widnes's next licence application.

Weekend at Happy Days caravan park, watch the Wire smash the Welsh. Sounds a good weekend to me!

makes it a hell of a lot simpler for the traveling fans, but overall its a total farce, and if I was a Widnes fan I'd be fumeing

Why ?

How many points do you think the North Wales Crusaders score at present under the super league franchise system and compare that to Widnes ?

Licence criteria

Stage two of the licence decision process saw the clubs allocated the points used to decide licence grades according to their strength in several areas.

Facilities

Teams will get one point for having a stadium with a capacity of 12,000 or more. Another point will be awarded if the ground meets the standards of a premier competition in the 21st century.

Attendances

A point will be awarded to clubs with an average attendance of around 10,000 spectators. Another point will be awarded if stadiums are operating at 40 per cent capacity.

Finances

Teams will receive a point if they are solvent. Another point will be awarded if their turnover is more than £4 million.

Player strength

Teams earn one point if they are considered to have made a contribution to the competition - that means averaging a place in the top eight over each of the last three seasons. Another point is available to clubs who make a contribution to home-grown player development. That means at least eight members of a first-team squad of 25 should be discovered, trained and developed in the team's home country (United Kingdom or France).

Salary cap

One point is on offer to teams who have not committed a major breach of the salary cap in the last three seasons.

Geographical expansion

The final point goes to clubs who do not have another rugby league club within a 20-mile radius.

Total score

The scores attained by each club (out of ten) are translated into a Licence grading.

8 or more points - A licence
5-7 points - B licence
4 points or less - C licence
Sky Sports report that it is believed teams who achieve an A or B Licence will be awarded a place in Super League, while those who achieve a C Licence will undergo further scrutiny before the RFL decide who makes the final cut.

It's worked brilliant for Catalan but I feel it want work in this country, for some strange reason a lot prefer to watch the inferior game of RU

It worked for Catalans (So far, how are they doing financially?) because there was interest in the sport there in the first place.

In South Wales there was no actual league being played at any level of any significance but there was history and people like rugby down there so there were plenty of people who could be swayed.

North Wales only has one professional team in any sport and struggles terribly to keep that going due to the terrible crowds. Crusaders RL at Wrexham might get 200 more fans from the SL clubs than they would in the south but I really can't see many home fans rolling up unless they do an awful lot of community work.

Well why can't they do that?

Because the long term plans are still South Wales if you read whats coming out of Wales. The Wrexham thing is just desperation as no one else will help them out. It's Wrexham or bust at this stage.