Celtic Crusaders

Rugby team
teamname = Celtic Crusaders

|center
fullname = Celtic Crusaders Rugby League Club
location = Bridgend, Wales
country

founded = 2005
ground = Brewery Field, Bridgend
capacity = 12000
chairman = flagicon|Wales Leighton Samuel
coach = flagicon|Australia John Dixon
captain = flagicon|AUS Darren Mapp
league = National League 1
season = 2007
position = National League 2, 1st (Promoted to NL1)
url = www.crusadersrfl.com

The Celtic Crusaders are a rugby league club based in Bridgend, Wales, United Kingdom. They will be part of engage Super League from 2009-2011 after being awarded a licence by the Rugby Football League on July 22, 2008.

Home games are played at the Brewery Field in Bridgend, although some games have been played in other parts of south Wales. They are coached by John Dixon.

Much of the squad are Welsh-qualified having been recruited from the Welsh Conference sides, mainly Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aberavon Fighting Irish. They also run an academy side drawn from every club in the Welsh Conference. The academy side are under the name Crusader Colts and currently play their games in the Rugby league Conference and played their first match against Dewsbury Celtic, winning 66-12.

The Crusaders are attracting fans of the now defunct rugby union team Celtic Warriors, [ [http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/07/23/crusaders-set-to-attract-giants-of-rugby-league-91466-21387047/] ,] who participated in the Celtic League during the 2003-2004 season, before they were disbanded by the WRU.

Their highest ever attendance in National league 2 was on Friday May 4, 2007 when 3,441 people witnessed them play Oldham Roughyeds at the Brewery Field. Some of the crowd consisted of engage Super League fans who had traveled 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 May 3, again on the weekend of Millennium Magic. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/7377499.stm BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Crusaders 28-18 Featherstone ] ]

Symbols

The Badge - The badge depicts the Cross of Saint David with the Crusaders logo emblazed thereon. The club colours are black and gold and the change strip blue and white.

History

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. 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 February 15 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 September 8, 2007. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/6982399.stm BBC SPORT | Rugby League | Gateshead 16-60 Celtic Crusaders ] ] 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. [ [http://celticcrusaders.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=players&action=display&thread=405 CrusadersRFL.com - NL2 Player of the Year. The winner is ] ]

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. [ [http://celticcrusaders.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=match&action=display&thread=1650 CrusadersRFL.com - March 21st - Dewsbury Rams (h) ] ]

2008 Squad

Crusaders Colts

In 2007 Celtic Crusaders setup 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 is made up of the best young players in Wales and they will play their fixtures in the Co-operative Conference National, a league which is two divisions below National League One, where Celtic Crusaders are competing this year, and a division above the Welsh Conference Premier.

The majority of the Colts’ first ever side are taken from the Welsh Conference Premier but there are a few new faces to rugby league including Josh Hannam (don’t get him confused with a certain first team player) who comes 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. [ [http://celticcrusaders.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=players&action=display&thread=1768 CrusadersRFL.com - Crusaders Colts match off ] ]

The Crusaders Colts played their first game against Dewsbury Celtic winning comfortably 66-12. [ [http://celticcrusaders.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=academymatch&action=display&thread=1776 CrusadersRFL.com - Sat 5 April - Dewsbury Celtic (a) ] ]

Statistics

National League Two

Season	Pos	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
2005-06	3rd	22	14	1	7	29

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_National_Leagues_in_2006]

National League Two

Season	Pos	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
2006-07	1st	22	19	0	3	60

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_National_Leagues_in_2007]

Records

* Biggest winning margin: 82– 4 against Swinton Lions (Brewery Field, April 28, 2007)
* Most points scored: 84–10 against Hunslet Hawks (Brewery Field, August 11, 2007)
* Biggest defeat: 56–6 against Widnes Vikings (Brewery Field, February 9, 2007)
* Highest attendance: 6,152 against Featherstone Rovers (Brewery Field May 3, 2008)

Honours

National League Two Champions 2007.

See also

* Celtic Warriors
* Wales national rugby league team
* Rugby League in Wales
* Rugby League Conference
* Rugby League National Leagues

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/4120700.stm Celtic Crusaders announcement]
* [http://www.crusadersrfl.com Celtic Crusaders official website]
* [http://peterflower.tripod.com/table.htm Website containing information about past League clubs]
* [http://www.cymrurl.com Official Wales Rugby League website]
* [http://www.ianlovell.com Official Wales Rugby League photographer's website]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Celtic+Crusaders&search=Search Celtic Crusaders on youtube]
* [http://forums.rlfans.com/viewforum.php?f=72 Celtic Crusaders forum on rlfans.com]
* [http://www.nationalleague.co.uk/ National League website]
* [http://www.rugbyleague.org/index.php?showforum=118/ Celtic Crusaders Fans Forums - RugbyLeague.org]
* http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/jul/22/superleague.rugbyleague1