Crusaders Accepted Into Championship One

Wrexham based rugby league side the Crusaders have been accepted to play in the Championship One in 2012 by the Rugby Football League.

The news comes after months of campaigning by the fan led Save The Cru campaign to keep the club alive in the wake of the decision by former owners Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts to pull out of an application to continue playing in the Super League.

Subject to their business plan being ratified at the Championships clubs’ meeting this week the Crusaders will be accepted into the Co-operative Championship One for the 2012 season, however the RFL has stipulated that they will not play in the Northern Rail Cup.

The club had initially wanted to play in the Championship, however had their application turned down by the RFL who ruled that as the new club did not make provision for payments to the creditors of the old Super League club, they did not have automatic entitlement to entry at Championship level.

The new club is being formed by The Crusaders Supporters Club and Save The Cru and will be part owned by a supporters trust as well as a number of individuals and organisations throughout the area.

The club are also looking to set up a share issue where fans and others can buy into the club for a minimum of £100.

The RFL’s Chief Operating Officer, Ralph Rimmer said: “We are pleased to confirm the structure of the Co-operative Championships for 2012.

“We appreciate that it has been frustrating for clubs and supporters who were waiting for confirmation of the structure but the delays were caused as the governing body endeavoured to act in the best interests of the game, and all can now start to plan for next season, with some confidence.

“Following the conclusion of the Championships review we have some extremely exciting announcements to make over the next few weeks on the future of the competitions from 2013 onwards.

“We are also very close to agreeing the new broadcast deal for the Championships and Northern Rail Cup competitions and supporters can expect an announcement on this soon.”

The full list of teams playing in the Co-operative Championship One for 2012 can be viewed below and would see the first professional Welsh Rugby League derby for almost 102 years when the Crusaders take on the South Wales Scorpions.

2012 Co-operative Championship One
Workington Town
Rochdale Hornets
Doncaster
Whitehaven
Oldham
South Wales Scorpions
London Skolars
Gateshead Thunder
Barrow Raiders
Crusaders RL