North Wales Crusaders take on Goole Vikings at Stadiwm CSM in Colwyn Bay on Sunday (kick-off 2.30pm) in what could be a memorable encounter in more ways than one.
Not only will a win for our only major men’s Welsh club side will put them one step further to lifting the RFL League 1 trophy, but it will be the 500th match to be played under the Crusaders name for senior men’s rugby league.
North Wales Crusaders were formed for the 2012 season, but before that, there was Celtic Crusaders, who ran from 2006-11, dropping the Celtic name in the final two years.
And if all the senior men’s matches from both clubs are added together, we’re currently on 499 games.
It all started in Hemel Hempstead on Sunday 12th February 2006, when Celtic Crusaders beat Hemel Hempstead Stags 50-10 in the first of six group games in the old Northern Rail Cup. Tony Duggan scored the historic first try. He ended up on 101, a record for the old club.
After four years at their original home, Brewery Field in Bridgend, the club moved north, due to the 2008 worldwide financial crisis that affected its owners.
By that time, Celtic Crusaders had worked their way up to Super League, after winning a licence for them to play there in 2009-11, and in their first season in Wrexham in 2010, they reached the play-offs.
But more financial issues meant that Super League asked Crusaders to withdraw their application for 2012-14 and as a result, the old club was wound up.
So in 2012, the brand new North Wales Crusaders were accepted into the league, but had to start two divisions below, in Championship One, winning the title and promotion in the second season after a home win over new side South Wales Scorpions. They also won the Northern Rail Bowl final that year.
A restructure of the Championship in 2014 meant that NWC only lasted a year at that level before being relegated back into the newly named League 1, and there they’ve stayed for ten years, but they did win the League 1 Cup in 2015.
Over the last 499 games, the Crusaders clubs have fielded no less than 44 full Welsh international players, one of whom, Rob Massam, is North Wales Crusaders’ top try scorer on 183.
Now, under the ownership of EggChaserRugby, North Wales Crusaders know that two home wins will put them in pole position to win this level’s league title for the first time in 12 years, which would be a big reward for head coach Carl Forster and his players for their effortds
So please come and support the side this Sunday against Goole Vikings, and then be back the week after that when they face Keighley Cougars, knowing that if Workington Town slip up on Sunday 31st August, then that Keighley match, game number 501 for the Crusaders clubs, will be one to remember.
Tickets can be bought from our ticketing partners Ticketpass, by going to https://ticketpass.org/o/347007795/north-wales-crusaders/events
