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Crusaders Rugby League (known as Celtic Crusaders before November 2009) are a Welsh professional rugby league club temporarily based in Newport, South Wales. The club compete in the Super League competition in Europe after having been awarded a licence by the Rugby Football League on 22 July 2008. The company owning the club is still known as Celtic Crusaders Limited. Home games have traditionally been played at the Brewery Field in Bridgend, although they have plans for a new stadium in the town. Due to the shortcomings of their current ground they have announced that they will play at Rodney Parade in Newport for the 2010 and 2011 Super League seasons.[1] They are coached by Brian Noble. In their first season much of the squad were Welsh-qualified, having been recruited from the Welsh Conference sides, mainly Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aberavon Fighting Irish, but have since looked further afield for players with more professional rugby league experience. They also run an academy side drawn from every club in the Rugby League Conference Welsh Premier. The academy side play under the name Crusader Colts and currently play their games in the Gillette National Youth League. The Crusaders are attracting fans of the now defunct rugby union team Celtic Warriors,[2] who participated in the Celtic League during the 2003-2004 season, before they were disbanded by the WRU.
[edit] History[edit] Celtic WarriorsIn the summer of 2003, the WRU voted to reduce the top tier of Welsh professional rugby union from nine clubs into five regions. The Celtic Warriors officially represented the Mid-Glamorgan Valleys area, which in practice meant that they were a combination of Pontypridd RFC and Bridgend RFC. Financial problems at Pontypridd RFC led to the sale of their half of the Warriors to Bridgend RFC owner Leighton Samuel, which he gifted to the WRU. He then later sold his half to the WRU who in the Summer of 2004 decided to liquidate the club. [edit] Celtic CrusadersLeighton Samuel then created a team which he claimed was the resurrection of the old Celtic Warriors franchise, however, instead of playing rugby union they would play rugby league. The RFL had long wanted a team based in South Wales to play in their leagues and accepted his proposals. The initial plan to re-use the 'Celtic Warriors' name was abandoned in favour of 'Celtic Crusaders' which had been considered by the rugby union franchise. They were to play their home games at Brewery Field and games were planned to be held at Sardis Road as well. The Crusaders' aim was to reach Super League and to represent south Wales. Previous attempts to create rugby league franchises in non-traditional areas have met with mixed success. Gateshead Thunder and Paris Saint Germain were given automatic entry to the Super League, Paris survived only two seasons and Gateshead were forcibly merged and reincarnated as a national league two side despite a successful first year. The philosophy behind the creation of the Crusaders was a bottom up approach to ensure that the club grew with its playing and spectator base, into a nationally recognised sporting brand. The Crusaders' first match took place against Harlequins Academy at Brewery Field. The Crusaders used the fixture as a chance to view the fringe players in their squad and secured a 22-22 draw. Their first competitive games were in the National League Cup; Crusaders were placed in a group along with London Skolars, Hemel Stags and St Albans Centurions. Crusaders won every game convincingly and were installed as favourites to win National League Two in their first year. However, the team finished a creditable third and lost out 26-27 in the Final Eliminator to Swinton Lions. They played against Brisbane Broncos in the Bulmers Original Cider Challenge at the Brewery Field on Thursday 15 February 2007, losing with a respectable scoreline of 6-32. In only their second season of existence, the Celtic Crusaders won the 2007 National League Two championship, thus earning automatic promotion to National League One in 2008. The title was sealed with one match left to play as a result of Featherstone Rovers away loss at Barrow Raiders on 8 September 2007.[3] In that year fullback Tony Duggan won the National League Two Player of the Year award for 2007 with 40 tries through 2007.Jace Van Dijk, Neale Wyatt, Damien Quinn, Mark Dalle Cort, Neil Budworth, all joined Duggan in the National League Two all-star team.[4] Their highest ever attendance in National league 2 was on Friday 4 May 2007 when 3,441 people witnessed them play Oldham Roughyeds at the Brewery Field. Most of the crowd consisted of engage Super League fans who had travelled to south Wales for the Millennium Magic weekend in Cardiff but the majority were locals thanks to a marketing campaign by the club. This attendance was also an NL2 record attendance and the first NL2 match broadcast live on British television. In 2008, a crowd of 6,152 attended the game against Featherstone Rovers on Friday 3 May, again on the weekend of Millennium Magic.[5] Again made by the Magic Weekend. In their first ever Co-operative National League One match, Celtic Crusaders, in atrocious conditions, claimed a hard-fought 14-12 win over Dewsbury Rams.[6] [edit] Entry to Super LeagueCrusaders were awarded a three year Super League licence in July 2008 as the league abandoned automatic promotion and relegation in favour of franchising from Super League XIV onwards.[7] They lost their first game in the European Super League against then World Champions and back-to-back Super League Champions Leeds Rhinos 28-6 at Headingley Stadium. The Crusaders' first try in the Super League was scored by Luke Dyer, and converted by Josh Hannay.[8] The Crusaders registered their first Super League victory on 17 May 2009, in the 12th game of the season against the Bradford Bulls winning 30–24 away at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford. Their second win of the season, and their first at home, came on 13 June against a visiting Wigan side. On 26 May 2009, the Crusaders announced they would play the Leeds Rhinos in Newport in a bid to take some games on the road and expand the game in Wales.[9] David Watkins took over the position of Celtic Crusaders boss from Jonathan Davies in 2009.[10] In August, the UK Border Agency found that six Celtic Crusaders players had breached visa regulations and were to be deported. These included captain Jace van Dijk and fellow Australians Tony Duggan, Damien Quinn, Darren Mapp, Mark Dalle Cort and Josh Hannay. [edit] Crusaders Rugby LeagueFor the 2010 season, the club made a number of changes. Firstly, they dropped the "Celtic" label to become simply Crusaders[11], adopted a new badge and announced that they would be playing at Rodney Parade, Newport for the next two years. Secondly, on 14 October it was announced that former Wigan Warriors and Great Britain coach Brian Noble had been appointed as Head Coach for the coming season.[12] Jon Sharp will be first-team coach, and Iestyn Harris, who is also Wales coach, will be an assistant. [edit] Symbols The club's first badge was used between its founding in 2005 and 2008. The badge featured the Flag of Saint David on a shield. A ribbon around the bottom of the shield bore the motto Oderint dum metuant (Latin for "Let them hate, so long as they fear"), which is attributed to the Roman tragic poet, Lucius Accius and later became famous as a saying of the Emperor Caligula. Above and below the shield were the world "Celtic" and "Crusaders Rugby League Club" respectively. The club's colours were black and gold, inspired by the Flag of St David.[13] The blue and white colours of the change strip were the same as the club colours of Bridgend RFC.
The Crusaders' current badge was adopted following the 2007 season.[13] David Thompson, the then chief executive commented, "The new badge is modern, progressive and business-friendly. Our Welsh identity is prominent as ever through the gold and black Flag of St David which still provides the colours of our home strip".[13] The round badge, ringed with "Celtic Crusaders", features a warrior holding a sword and a shield with the Flag of St David on it, in the background are two Celtic knots. The badge bears striking similarity to the badge intended for use during the Celtic Warriors' unplayed 2004/05 season. For the 2009 season, the club used a red and white away strip, colours associated with Welsh national teams. The club have revealed a new logo ready for use in the 2010 season. The badge, inspired by the Prince of Wales's feathers, has three white feathers adorning the centre of a disc with the Flag of St David on. To the left and right of the feathers, the words "Rugby" and "League" appear on the disc. Beneath the feathers is written "Crusaders". [edit] StadiumThe Crusaders played their home matches at Brewery Field, the traditional home of Bridgend rugby. Crusaders submitted plans to the local authority in Bridgend to construct a new 15,000 capacity stadium to further aid the development of the club in 2008.[14] In August 2009, the Crusaders announced that they were to play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport, for two seasons.[15] The move was announced after several Super League clubs including Celtic Crusaders were warned in July 2009 that their continued presence in Super League after the next round of licensing was in jeopardy due to the standard of their home venues.[16][17] An RFL statement said, "[They] have been informed that if plans to build new stadiums or significantly improve their home venues are not sufficiently advanced by 2011, they may not satisfy the full criteria for the next period of licensing”.[16] The club stated it was their intention to return to Bridgend once their planned stadium had been built.[15] [edit] 2010 Squad
[edit] 2009 Transfers In/OutIn
Out
[edit] Crusaders ColtsIn 2007 Celtic Crusaders set up a feeder side called the Crusaders Colts with the prime objective of producing young Welsh players to play for both Celtic Crusaders and the Welsh national side. The squad was made up of the best young players in Wales and they played in the Rugby League Conference National Division, a league which is three divisions below the European Super League, where Celtic Crusaders are competing until at least 2011, and a division above the Rugby League Conference Welsh Premier. The majority of the Colts’ first ever side were taken from the Welsh Premier but there are a few new faces to rugby league including Josh Hannam who came to the club after an impressive record with both Glamorgan Wanderers and Newport Gwent Dragons under-20 and Lewis Mills, who has previously only played university rugby for Glamorgan. [18] The Crusaders Colts played their first game against Dewsbury Celtic winning comfortably 66-12. [19] The Colts joined the Gillette National Youth League for the 2008-9 season. [edit] Statistics[edit] Super League XIV
[edit] National League One
[edit] Play-OffsSemi-Final: Salford City Reds 18-44 Celtic Crusaders [20] [edit] National League Two
[edit] National League Two
[edit] Play-OffsSemi-Final: Sheffield Eagles 26-16 Celtic Crusaders [22] [edit] Records
[edit] Honours
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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