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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
After the success of clubs in the Welsh Premier division of the Rugby League Conference, a South Wales team was mooted to join a professional league in March 2005.[3] 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. The club was to play their home games at Brewery Field and games were planned to be held at Sardis Road as well. The Rugby Football League admitted the club on 22 June 2005 during a meeting in Salford.[4][5][6][7][8][9]
On 13 November, Kevin Ellis was appointed Assistant Coach and a few days later on 16 November Anthony Seibold was appointed Fitness and Conditioning Coach. By the end of November coach John Dixon had completed his squad, drawn heavily from Bridgend Blue Bulls and Aberavon Fighting Irish clubs.[10]
The club were due to play their first match against Super League giants St. Helens, but due to the team being in the World Club Challenge competition, a Harlequins RL Academy side provided the opposition for the club's inaugural match. The friendly ended in a 22–22 draw.[11]
For their first season in the National League Two competition the side performed very well finishing third out of twelve teams, earning 29 points.[12] The team scored 730 points and conceded 387. Some changes at the club also occurred during the year. On 8 June 2006, chief executive Chris O'Callaghan resigned after 13 months in the job, during which he was highly important in forming the club and getting them into the professional leagues.[13] At the end of the season influential first ever captain Michael Ryan returned to his native Australia for personal reasons.[14]
2007-2008: Promotion and Super League licence application
A Crusaders game in 2008
Celtic Crusaders' first match of the 2007 season was a Northern Rail Cup game.[15] This year they were drawn in a group with two strong National League One clubs, Widnes and Leigh, and with London Skolars. Widnes came to a snow-hit Brewery Field on 9 February and won 6–56.[16] The squad's second match of the season was a match against the 2006 NRL champions Brisbane Broncos.[citation needed][17][18] The Broncos used the match to prepare for their World Club Challenge meeting with St Helens.[19][20] This Bulmers Original Cider Challenge match attracted a lot of attention from the South Wales media and a record crowd of 2,041 came to see Crusaders lose 6–32 with a very credible performance.[21][22][23][24] Grant Epton got Crusaders' sole try on the night.[25][26]
In the second year in the National League Two competition, Crusaders finished first with 60 points and were promoted.[27] The club suffered just one defeat at home all season against Oldham on 4 May. It was the first ever National League Two match to be shown live on Sky Sports, and was also broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales.[28]
The 2008 National League One campaign got off to a great start with 14–12 victory over Dewsbury in front of a crowd of 1,618.[29] The club continued on good goom included a narrow 14–16 victory away at Widnes, a 56–28 win over Batley and a crucial win over Featherstone Rovers on 2 May. A club record crowd of 6,152. Crusaders were matched in the qualifying play-off against first placed Salford City Reds, despite this won 44–18 gaining a place in the Grand Final at the Halliwell Jones Stadium in Warrington. The Grand Final saw Crusaders face Salford again who had earned a place via the preliminary final. In the match, the Salford scored the first two tries, before Anthony Blackwood narrowed their lead as the team went into half-time losing 6–10. A resurgence occurred though as Crusaders scored three tries in the second half, but a Salford try and a late goal pushed the match into extra-time. Salford scored three tries over the extra-time period to win the match 18–36.[30]
On 22 July the Rugby League Football granted the Celtic Crusaders a three-year licence from 2009 allowing the team to compete in Super League.[citation needed]
2009-2011: Super League
The first season of Super League for the team was bitterly disappointing, as after three years of strong performances the Crusaders regularly struggled against the best teams in the country. An early February start kicked off the new Super League season with the Crusaders against reigning champions Leeds Rhinos at Headingley. The Rhinos scored four tries early on, before Luke Dyer scored the new team's first-ever try in Super League, but this could not be built upon as the match finished 28–6.
On 9 July the club received word that it was subject to investigations by the UK Border Agency concerning problems over players visas.[31] On 18 August, a few days before the team would face Leeds Rhinos, it was announced that the club had violated visa regulations and six Australian players were asked to leave the country, with the club soon after terminating their contracts.[32] On 14 October 2009, Brian Noble became the second-ever head coach of the club, with former Welsh international Iestyn Harris[33][34][35][36] and former Great Britain assistant Jon Sharp[37][38] being given the jobs of assistant coaches.[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] In early November the club announced that it would be dropping the "Celtic" from the name to sever ties with the old Celtic Warriors rugby union team, and that the club was now to be called "Crusaders Rugby League".[49] Alongside this a new logo was announced featuring the Prince of Wales feathers. On 15 December 2009, the club announced that their new home would become the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.[50][51][52][53][54]
The 2010 season started with a home tie against Leeds.[55][56] New players were brought into the squad such as Michael Witt,[57] Rocky Trimarchi,[58] and Gareth Raynor.[59] However, the squad was also bolstered with new young Welsh players like Elliot Kear, Lewis Mills and Lloyd White.[60] Crusaders reached the Super League play-offs; going out in the first round at Huddersfield Giants.
On 12 November 2010, the Crusaders were placed into administration due to "inherited debt".[61]
In 2011 the Crusaders initially applied to continue their Super League licence for the 2012–15 period, but on 26 July 2011, they announced they had withdrawn their application as a result of their administration.[62] The club's owners, Geoff Moss and Ian Roberts pulled out stating that they were not able to fund the side anymore, which eventually led to the club being wound up in September. Attendances were down on the 2010 season. Crusaders final game of the Super League was a 42–10 defeat at Wigan Warriors.[citation needed]
North Wales Crusaders
On 11 October 2011, Crusaders RL was readmited into the RFL for the 2012 season beginning in Championship 1, the third tier of rugby league in the United Kingdom, under the name "North Wales Crusaders". Their original name being preserved following a fan inquest.[63][64] The club held open trials in the off-season to attract new players.[65]
In 2016, financial issues resulted in the club making cuts to their playing budget.[68] The club was significantly supported in this period by Wales Rugby League in the form of loans and helping with thr club's management structure.[69]
Ahead of the 2017 season, the club appointed a new captain in Lee Hudson,[70] and signed Mike Grady as a new head coach.[71]
On 20 December 2024, the club was taken over by EggChaserRugby, and saw Bobby Watkins become a non-executive chairman. This also saw Arun Watkins become the club's majority shareholder and thus the youngest ever club owner in RFL history at 23 years old.[citation needed]
The 2025 season saw North Wales win League 1 for the first time in 12 years gaining promotion to the Championship. The club also one of 12 teams to send expressions of interest for one of the additional two spots in the expand Super League going into 2026, being the only League 1 club to do so.[72] However they did not continue with a formal application.[73]
Symbols
The club revealed a logo ready for use in the 2012 season which was 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 the text "Crusaders".
In 2022, the club revealed new home and away kits for the upcoming year. The home kit is black with a yellow stripe across the center, while the away kit is white with black and gray accents.[74]
Stadiums
Racecourse Ground stadium, Wrexham
North Wales Crusaders were first based at the Racecourse Ground located in Wrexham. 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.[75] Crowd trouble stopped the horse racing and in 1864 it became home to Wrexham Football Club with the club now owning the ground.[76][77][78] 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.
Whilst resurfacing work was taking place at the Racecourse Ground in 2014, North Wales Crusaders took their home games to 'the Rock' in Rhosymedre, near Ruabon.
As of the 2017 season, the club is based at the Queensway Stadium in Wrexham. It consists of two small all-seater stands on one side overlooking a rugby pitch and a running track with floodlights.
In 2021, the club was based at Stadiwm ZipWorld (aka Eirias Stadium) in Colwyn Bay due to COVID-19 restrictions preventing the use of Queensway Stadium.[81]
↑ "Aberavon Fighting Irish". Aberavonfightinirishrl.moonfruit.com. 23 September 2006. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
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