North Wales Crusaders
 |
|||
| Club information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | North Wales Crusaders Rugby League Football Club | ||
| Short name | Crusaders | ||
| Website | www.crusadersrfl.com | ||
| Colours |  |
||
| Founded | 2011 | ||
| Current details | |||
| Ground(s) | 2012–present Racecourse Ground (15,500-with Kop) |
||
| CEO(s) |  Jamie Thomas |
||
| Coach(s) | Clive Griffiths |
||
| Captain(s) | Andy Moulsdale | ||
| Competition | Kingstone Press Championship 1 (from 2012) | ||
| 2013 Championship 1 | |||
 Current season |
|||
| Records | |||
| Most capped | 23 - Tommy Johnson, Andy Moulsdale, Jonny Walker | ||
| Most points | 130 - Tommy Johnson | ||
North Wales Crusaders (Welsh: Croesgadwyr Gogledd Cymru Rygbi'r Gynghrair) are a professional rugby league club based in Wrexham, Wales. They are the successors to the former Super League club Crusaders Rugby League. In the 2013 season they play in the Kingstone Press Championship 1 competition. They play their home games at the Racecourse Ground.
Contents |
History [edit]
Celtic Warriors [edit]
In 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.
Celtic Crusaders [edit]
Leighton Samuel was approached by the RFL to form a rugby league club and join the professional ranks. The new Celtic Crusaders were argued to be a continuation of the old Celtic Warriors side and were based at Bridgend's Brewery Field.
In 2009, the team were awarded a Super League licence and played one season in Super League before financial problems saw the club renamed Crusaders Rugby League and moved to Wrexham. The club created an academy side for players based in North Wales known as North Wales Crusaders. After two seasons at Wrexham, the club pulled out from bidding for a 2012 Super League licence.
North Wales Crusaders [edit]
The club was founded in 2011 following the folding of Crusaders Rugby League. They officially joined Championship 1, the third tier of rugby league in the United Kingdom, on 11 October 2011. Their name, which continues the Crusaders branding, was selected in a fan contest.[1][2] A rival bid from Wrexham-based Glyndwr Chargers was withdrawn.
The club held open trials for any new players to attend.[3]
North Wales Crusaders won their first game, a friendly, 34-12 away to Leigh East.
Symbols [edit]
The club have revealed a logo ready for use in the 2012 season which an evolution of the 2011 logo. 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 "North" and "Wales" appear on the disc as opposed to "Rugby" and "League" on the old logo. Beneath the feathers remains "Crusaders".
-
2011
-
2012
Stadiums [edit]
The Racecourse [edit]
The Racecourse Ground is located in Wrexham in North Wales and is the official home of the Crusaders and where most matches are played. The club moved to the ground in 2010, in time for the start of the Super League XV season. The first Crusaders match ever played there was against Leeds Rhinos on 29 January 2010, and that match is also the highest attendance for a Crusaders match played in Wrexham. With a capacity of 15,500 it is the largest ground in North Wales, the fifth largest in the whole of Wales, and the seventh largest in Super League. It was first built in 1807 and first played host to Wrexham's "Town Purse" horse race.[4] Crowd trouble stopped the horse racing and in 1872 it became home to Wrexham Football Club with the club now owning the ground.[5][6][7] The Wales national rugby league team have played there. The ground has four stands: The Mold Road Stand, The Eric Roberts Stand, The Kop and The Yale.
During pre-season of the 2012 campaign. North Wales Crusaders played 'Home' games at both Halton Stadium [8] and Eirias Park.[9]
2013 squad [edit]
| 2013 North Wales Crusaders Squad | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First team squad | Coaching staff | ||||||||
|
|
|
Head coach Assistant coach
Updated: 21 February 2013 |
||||||
2013 transfers [edit]
Gains [edit]
| Player | Previous Club | Date Signed |
|---|---|---|
 Gary Middlehurst |
Rochdale Hornets | October 2012 [11] |
| Phil Braddish |
Rochdale Hornets | October 2012 [12] |
| Stuart Reardon |
AS Carcassonne | October 2012 [13] |
 Dave McConnell |
Swinton Lions | October 2012 [14] |
| Andy Gorski |
Swinton Lions | October 2012 [15] |
| Adam Bowman |
Rochdale Hornets | October 2012 [16] |
| Ryan MacDonald |
Workington Town | October 2012 [17] |
| Steve McDermott |
Rochdale Hornets | November 2012[18] |
| Stephen Bannister |
SO Avignon | January 2013 |
Loanees [edit]
| Player | Parent Club | Date |
|---|---|---|
Losses [edit]
| Player | New Club | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Anthony Morrison |
Old Bar Beach Pirates | October 2012 [19] |
| Iwan Brown |
Released | October 2012 |
| Danny Hulme |
Released | October 2012 |
| Dave Orwell |
Released | October 2012 |
| Alex Trumper |
Rochdale Hornets | October 2012 |
Coaches [edit]
| Name | Nat | Tenure | Matches Won | % | SL Won | % | Champ Won | % | Champ 1 Won | % | Chall. Cup Won | % | Champ. Cup Won | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clive Griffiths |  |
November 2011 – present | 11/23 | 47 | 0/0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 7/18 | 38 | 1/2 | 50 | 3/3 | 100 |
Updated 12/8/2012.[20]
Honours [edit]
 |
This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (September 2012) |
Statistics [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "BBC Sport - New Crusaders side awarded Championship One place". BBC News. 2011-11-11. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
- ^ "Official Crusaders RL web site". Crusadersrfl.com. 2011-12-07. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
- ^ BBC News - Old Stadium Claims World Record Retrieved on 5 September 2010.
- ^ Wrexham FC - The Racecourse Retrieved on 5 September 2010.
- ^ Wales Directory - The Racecourse Retrieved on 5 September 2010.
- ^ The Racecourse Wrexham - About Us Retrieved on 6 September 2010.
- ^ "Official Crusaders RL web site". Crusadersrfl.com. 2012-02-03. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
- ^ "Official Crusaders RL web site". Crusadersrfl.com. 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
- ^ http://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id=9516
- ^ http://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id=9571
- ^ http://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id=9607
- ^ http://www.mission2013.co.uk/reardon-returns-to-the-racecourse-for-2013/
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/#!/CelticCrusaders?fref=ts
- ^ https://www.facebook.com/#!/CelticCrusaders?fref=ts
- ^ http://www.mission2013.co.uk/adam-bowman-joins-from-rochdale-hornets/
- ^ http://www.mission2013.co.uk/north-wales-crusaders-capture-experienced-workington-prop/
- ^ http://www.mission2013.co.uk/another-hornet-snapped-up-by-north-wales-crusaders/
- ^ http://www.crusadersrfl.com/article.php?id=9571
- ^ "Official Crusaders RL web site". Crusadersrfl.com. Retrieved 2012-08-20.
External links [edit]
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
