after all, it was the 1st game, I imagine where they have taken more than a 100 away supporters, even the SKY cameras couldn't take their eyes off them ! news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 994958.stm

after all, it was the 1st game, I imagine where they have taken more than a 100 away supporters, even the SKY cameras couldn't take their eyes off them ! news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 994958.stm

"To have 800 fans here, how good is that for the game?'' correct me if i am wrong but didnt we take more to halifax, we didnt even get a mention lol

i wasnt even impressed with the leeds lot at wigan the other day, would have thought for a club with 20,000 supporters they would have taken a minimum off 1500-2000

800 fans away from home for a televised match for a brand new club is pretty good if you ask me

The problem they have is , is 800/1,000 all they actually have ?

And if so , how long can they continue ?

another 4 years, come what may, along with Quins. I say merge them (Cruquins) and put them in Birmingham. Well somewhere else must be interested in RL

the aggregate away following for them this season, won't be much more than a 1000. Nice work from the BBC.

Daft as it seems they could make a go of it in wrexham,but I'm sure theres a mess waiting to happen behind the scene,it is rl after all

Great letter from a new Cru fan in today's League Express. How right that man is!

5 years as an RL club against over 100 for Leigh - yeah I worry for this once great club. Really I do. It breaks my heart but to see the game develop and blossom as it is doing in North Wales is fantastic.

The trip to Huddersfield was reminiscent of our Grand final win at Widnes in 2005 - just wrong result on Saturday. The Crusaders fans were awesome. To see people new to the game and embrace it with such passion is awesome. Warms the cockles of your heart. Long live the Cru!

I wish we could still take 800 to an away game. Leeds only took 1,300 to Wigan and that's nearly an hour's less travelling so I don't see how anyone can discredit them, to be honest.

[url=http://rlphotos.fotopic.net/p67072136.htmlLook at how many club shirts etc - real signs of a growing support, I say[/url

Free tickets and shirts given free if you buy more than 4 free tickets. Also vouchers given out to get Free Season Tickets.

as i've stated before, the numptys wont be happy until its leigh, miners, east and central lions in a 4 team league, whinging when they draw golborne parkside in the cup, cos its too far, and slagging off a player who lives on the wrong side of butts bridge

lets just see how they are doing in 95 years time....

But Leigh are not in SL...and it looks like we never will be until they do away with stupid franchising. Put them in the Championship, lets see how many fans they would get then.

2009, a SL club almost goes bust, saved after intervention from the RFL
2010, a SL club almost goes bust, saved after intervention from the RFL

The million quid Sky monies effectively used to pay a badly managed companies debts instead of developing the game around the country

2009 and 2010 saw a number of Championship clubs, go into administration and almost fold, I don't see much evidence of intervention from the RFL to help the club continue in the Division they are in

It was a fantastic turnout! Can you see me?!


It's the way the RFL is running the game. It's Superleague or nought. Leigh and those in the Championship and below have been cast adrift. The RFL gave Crusaders and Salford franchiches didn't they? Cru doing a better job than Salford you've got to agree. What about Salford fan base/performance this season/phantom new ground?

Take the blinkers off and give credit where it's due - been an amazing season for the Crusaders from the diabolical start in January.

Crusaders came to Leigh in the NRC a few years ago and were applauded off the pitch, new club, played well etc
Since then the RFL have ripped the game apart, treating the majority of its members as smelly stuff on its shoes.
I will repeat my stance, only a few clubs are effected by P&R, those not in SL are on the way out of business in the current format. Widnes, Fax, Wakey, Cas, HKR, Hudds, Salford, Leigh and possibly Oldham would be as big as each other today with the same amount of SL gametime. Leeds, Wire, Wigan, Saints,Hull and to a degree Bradford are the 'BIG' clubs. Quins, Cats and Cru are the expansion clubs.
Two FT divisions of 10 allows all those clubs to find a level to challenge themselves and to dream, plus allows a 2nd French and Welsh club. It expands the player pool and strengthens the international game, whilst being fairly easy to fund centrally eg £1.1m SL1 and £750k SL2.

No they didnt , they gave the Celtic Crusaders a franchise , not the club called Crusaders currently in SL , you may suggest I'm being pedantic

i liv in wrexham and the area has been cryin out for somethin like this, no big union team and not a great football team. and bringin in g thomas was the best thing they could of done, every1 round here thinks of him as a brother, our alfie this, our alfie that. half of the people going don't no the rules but they are still turning up and learning but more importantly paying.

It sounds like Noble is leaving them though, all the same, from what he says in that interview

Has left them, Harris to take over

Quote ="DemonUK"Has left them, Harris to take over'" Not yet he hasn't. Still speculation. He's having second thoughts after the way the season has finished up. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 991360.stm If he does go he leaves the club in good hands with Iestyn and Jon Sharpe. They have learned from the master. Best coach in Superleague bar none. Coach of the Year without a doubt.

Quote ="DemonUK"Has left them, Harris to take over'" Not yet he hasn't. Still speculation. He's having second thoughts after the way the season has finished up. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 991360.stm If he does go he leaves the club in good hands with Iestyn and Jon Sharpe. They have learned from the master. Best coach in Superleague bar none. Coach of the Year without a doubt.

You're not allowed to say things like that on here. I've been repeating exactly those comments since before the 'original' Crusaders were launched - that Wrexham is the ideal expansion area, and that if we can't make a go of it there then we may as well bury the game - and have been torn to shreds for it. I grew up in Wrexham and was aware then of the reasonable following for the game there while I was there.
It also helps RLs cause that the Welsh RU hate North Wales clubs, and are playing into the RLs hands.

The fact remains that (no matter how much you want to put PROPAGANDA - or even FACT! - in capitals) Crusaders are doing better after 12 months in Wrexham than Leigh are doing after 100 years.

Yes Nik they are doing well , pity they didn't have apply for a franchise



They could have been a real RFL success if they had

I dare say we would have done very well too if we had ex amount of overseas players ,lets not forget that ,it will be good to see a practically all Welsh lads playing for the team but that is a way off yet

What a crock you spout at times...... how long before they uproot them again?.
Before you make a reply I`m not against a welsh team based in Wrexham, just irked by that typical VT comeback in your last sentence. Which is totally irrelevant by the way but so much used by Expanso boys.

wasting your time bart man.this board seems to be overrun at the moment with ex leigh people with no interest in rl outside of sle.

Just because opinions differ from yours doesn't mean they are any less of a supporter. I would rather have Leigh in a more national competition in the 3rd division of 3 looking up to progress (with P&R), than be in a local sport competition in top division by virtual default. The 100 years prior to Sky money got us nowhere near this. At least money is being used towards this goal that then leads to more money in the game.