Celtic Crusader's gone already

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Özil

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Crusaders face high court winding-up petition on 10 November

• Super League club pursued by tax authorities
• Players accuse Welsh club over pension payments

* Andy Wilson
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 1 November 2010 18.31 GMT


Gareth Thomas Gareth Thomas gave Crusaders a boost by signing for the Welsh team last March and boosting attendances. Photograph: John Clifton/Action Images

Super League's Welsh experiment is in jeopardy again, with the Crusaders facing a winding-up petition in the high court next week and also being threatened by legal action from the Rugby League Players' Association over missing pension payments.

The club, who were taken over and relocated from Bridgend to Wrexham last winter after a disastrous debut season in the Super League in which six of their Australian players were deported, have now been presented with a petition to wind up the company from HM Revenue & Customs that is due to be heard on 10 November.

Geoff Burrow, the RLPA chairman, also revealed that eight current or former players are pursuing the Crusaders for "unlawful deduction of wages regarding pensions provision that hasn't been set up". The payments were supposed to go into an offshore fund based in Guernsey. It is not known if the two cases are linked, and the Crusaders failed to respond to inquiries about the situation today.

A spokesman for the Rugby Football League confirmed that "we've opened dialogue with them to try and get things sorted out", with further information expected this week.

The Crusaders' move to Wrexham had met with far more success than was generally expected when the club scuttled north almost exactly 12 months ago, with the former Bradford and Great Britain coach Brian Noble assembling a team that finished eighth in the Super League table and qualified for the play-offs.

Attendances at the Racecourse Ground were up significantly on the gates that had been attracted in south Wales, with a sell-out for the first game against Leeds, and the club gained huge publicity by signing the former Wales and British Lions rugby union captain Gareth Thomas. The RFL will be desperate to retain its Super League presence in Wales after the national team's success in the recent European Cup, which they won to secure a place alongside England, New Zealand and Australia in next autumn's Four Nations series. But the latest uncertainty raises further questions about how they could retain their licence beyond 2011 under the system that now determines Super League membership.

More than seven weeks after the Crusaders' 2010 season was ended by a play-off defeat at Huddersfield, there has still been no confirmation that Noble is to leave the club for his expected sabbatical in Australia, or that he will be succeeded by Iestyn Harris, the Wales coach who was one of his assistants. Jon Sharp, the former Huddersfield coach, is expected to leave the club, although Burrow denied reports that he has engaged the RLPA to claim compensation.

Wakefield Trinity, another club whose Super League membership beyond next season is widely thought to be under threat, remain confident that their plans for a new 12,000-capacity stadium will not be called in for a public inquiry, despite complaints from Leeds City Council. A decision is expected from the communities and local government secretary, Eric Pickles, within the next month.
 

OTTO

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I think they are gone ... now.
 

Wearnze

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any decent players we could scoop up?
 

Mr Invisible

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Jarrod Sammut, Frank Winterstein (maybe)..

They are the two that spring to mind.

One of their wingers is an absolute flyer too.
 

Magic Arrow

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They also have Michael Witt who in my opinion is good depth, and Mark Bryant, but he's a bit older now..

I'd pass on all their players though.
 

Pom_81

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A sad story all round. If you think Gallop and co run the NRL poorly, you only have to look at leadership of the Northern Hemisphere game to see that things could always be worse.

The waste of Crusaders is that, in their current guise, they were a viable team. Sadly, when they started in Super League, they were based in South Wales, which is (with the possible exception of New Zealand) the most staunchly Rugby Union place on Earth (the only region of the UK where Soccer isn't the largest sport). Added to that, the club was ineptly and, arguably, corruptly run. Signing overseas players without visas and cheating your tax payments don't exactly scream professionalism. These past couple of years, they've moved up to the North of Wales, a much more "winnable" territory (more "Soccer country" anyway), signed a couple of bigger name players and brought in proven winners on the coaching staff.

Saddled with the mess of their early days, they were always fighting an uphill battle to stay afloat, while paying for past crimes. I sincerely hope they can stay as a working entity in the lower reaches of European Rugby League, and I hope to see them back in Super League in a few years. I don't hold my breath, though...
 

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With the way the club is looking and with former players chasing up unpaid wages or unfair cuts in pay, it's looking bleak, real bleak. If I was a Crusaders fan, i'd be looking to form a new club and just play in the Conference or something and forget about the venture totally. As Pom_81 put it, the fact the club was treading on shaky ground throughout their existence and also going professional by winning a Super league license and spending well over their budget as it would seem is a recipe for failure and its been cooked up real well.
 

VAI

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wtf? i didn't even know this sub-forum existed
 

VAI

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well i haven't really followed anything in the esl, but reading up on all of this, my answer would be 'not at all'

i just didn't know there was an esl sub section :p
 

Parra_Power

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well i haven't really followed anything in the esl, but reading up on all of this, my answer would be 'not at all'

i just didn't know there was an esl sub section :p
It was odd... about 4 days ago, I was talking up their chances of making the finals again and how well they have improved from previous obscurity and here 4 days later, there at their death rows. Strange.
 

VAI

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it sucks for anyone involved who is going to be effected by this

but what this brought to my attention is the possible/probable answer of the playing stocks for any new expansion team/s in the NRL

first and foremost, the NRL needs to shore up it's current situation in all facets of the comp, really consolidate it's position in everything that is vital to the game in this comp.

but there has been concern of bringing in expansion teams when there may not be enough players to make new teams reasonably competitive. i'm pretty sure there is plenty of aussies, kiwis and even brits who would be happy to have a go in the NRL when a new team comes in, considering the kind of money that will be getting thrown around as well

there's generally only a few reasons why players go from this comp to ESL
*lack of 1st grade opportunity
*money
*retiring

when the new tv deal is done, bringing in a new team sometime soon after and players staying in the comp will go hand in hand, let alone players coming back from ESL
 

Parra_Power

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it sucks for anyone involved who is going to be effected by this

but what this brought to my attention is the possible/probable answer of the playing stocks for any new expansion team/s in the NRL

first and foremost, the NRL needs to shore up it's current situation in all facets of the comp, really consolidate it's position in everything that is vital to the game in this comp.

but there has been concern of bringing in expansion teams when there may not be enough players to make new teams reasonably competitive. i'm pretty sure there is plenty of aussies, kiwis and even brits who would be happy to have a go in the NRL when a new team comes in, considering the kind of money that will be getting thrown around as well

there's generally only a few reasons why players go from this comp to ESL
*lack of 1st grade opportunity
*money
*retiring

when the new tv deal is done, bringing in a new team sometime soon after and players staying in the comp will go hand in hand, let alone players coming back from ESL
I think we can assume more will return if the Super League do decide to tighten the screws further on the composition of the squads such as lessening the amount of International players on a starting line-up. If clubs like the Crusaders fall-off (also like Widnes did a few seasons ago) then an influx of returning players will obviously be more than welcome in a competition that can do with more depth. If the new TV deal is large enough and there is sufficient player ranks to make the squads wherever they spring up: Central Coast, Brisbane, Perth or even Sunshine Coast then i'm all for a new team.
 
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