North Wales Crusaders

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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]}

Due to financial problems, Pontypridd RFC sold their share of the Warriors to Bridgend RFC owner Leighton Samuel, who subsequently transferred it 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] An early proposal to rebrand the team was abandoned, and the club chose to retain the familiar name “Celtic Crusaders,” which was already widely recognized in Welsh rugby. 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]

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]} Great Egton scored the Crusaders’ only try of the match.^[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]}

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]}

On 11 October 2011, Crusaders RL was readmitted 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]

North Wales Crusaders won their first game, a friendly, 34–12 away to Leigh East.^{[citation needed]}

North Wales won the 2013 Championship One title, thus gaining promotion to the Championship after beating South Wales Ironmen 35–22 on the final day of the season.^[66] However, they were relegated the following season.^[67]

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]

Dean Muir, formerly coach at Hunslet, was appointed as head coach on 13 October 2025.^[74] Muir left the club on 24 March 2026.^[75]

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 2012, the club launched a kit with black shirts covered with a multi-coloured cheveron.^[76] Since then the club has changed its colours numerous times mainly between black and yellow, or red, white and green kits. Shirt designs have also incorporated elements connected to their Welsh heritage such as a Welsh Dragon in 2019, an image of Conwy Castle on their 2022 away kit, and a dragon scale pattern on their 2026 kits. ^{[77][78][79][80]}

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.^[81] Crowd trouble stopped the horse racing and in 1864 it became home to Wrexham Football Club with the club now owning the ground.^[82][83][84] 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 (Widnes)^[85] and Eirias Stadium (Colwyn Bay).^[86]

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.^[87]

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North Wales Crusaders 2026 Squad

First team squad								Coaching staff
1 Lloyd Roby (vc) – FB, WG 2 Ollie Brookes – WG 4 Jake Spedding – CE, WG 6 Declan Patton – SO, SH, HK 10 Tomo Clark – PR 11 Brad England – SR 13 Pat Moran – PR, LF		16 Mark Ioane – PR, SR 17 Ashton Robinson – PR, LF 19 Maciu Nabogi – SR 20 Tom Bridge – CE, WG 24 Kian Fishwick – PR, SR 26 Patrick Ah Van – WG, CE		28 Huw Worthington – PR				Manager Jake Webster Head coach Krisnan Inu Assistant coaches John Williams Sean Long Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s)

Player	From	Contract	Date
Jayden Hatton	Swinton Lions	1 year	15 July 2025
Kian Fishwick	Spring View ARLFC	1 year	3 September 2025
Luke Forber	Rochdale Hornets	1 year	11 September 2025
Declan Patton	Widnes Vikings	1 year	15 September 2025
Pat Moran	Oldham	1 year	5 November 2025
Ashton Robinson	Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs
Jake Nottingham	Warrington Wolves	1 year	5 December 2025
Junior Westwood
Greg Eden	Hunslet	1 year	9 December 2025
Brad England	Keighley Cougars	1 year	10 December 2025
Mark Ioane			12 January 2026
Tom Bridge	Wigan Warriors	1 year	22 December 2025
Danny Addy	Featherstone Rovers	1 year	16 January 2026
Huw Worthington	London Broncos	1 year	4 March 2026

Player	To	Contract	Date
Jamie Dallimore	Rochdale Hornets	1 year	15 September 2025
Matty Unsworth			25 September 2025
Jack Holmes			23 October 2025
Paddy Jones			27 November 2025
Chris Barratt			27 March 2026
Kieran Taylor	Widnes Vikings	2 years	15 October 2025
Sam Wilde			28 October 2025
Toby Hughes		1 year	14 November 2025
Jack Houghton			5 January 2026
Liam Cooper	Salford		14 January 2026
Shaun Costello			27 February 2026
Cole Oakley			21 April 2026
Joe Baldwin			22 April 2026
Owain Abel			24 April 2026
Danny Addy	Dewsbury Rams		19 March 2026
Josh Eaves	Swinton Lions		22 April 2026
Jordy Gibson			24 April 2026
Jake Nottingham	Leigh Leopards		22 April 2026
Junior Westwood
Greg Eden	Bradford Bulls		23 April 2026
Ant Walker	Hunslet		23 April 2026
Jayden Hatton
Luke Forber	Oldham	2 years	24 April 2026
Olly Davies
Ryan Ellis
Pat Rainford

Player	Date
Matt Reid	6 September 2025
Ben Evans	13 September 2025

Name	Nat	Tenure	Matches Won	%	SL Won	%	Champ Won	%	Champ 1 Won	%	Chall. Cup Won	%	Champ. Cup Won	%
Clive Griffiths		November 2011 – June 2014	35/61	57	0/0	0	6/15	40	21/34	62	3/6	50	5/6	83
Anthony Murray		June 2014 – September 2016	12/26	46	0/0	0	1/11	9	5/8	63	2/3	67	4/4	100
Mike Grady		October 2016 – March 2018[88]
Anthony Murray		2018 – 2022			0/0	0
Carl Forster		2022 – 4 October 2025	33/66	50	0/0	0

Updated 4 October 2025.^[89]

• Championship:

Runners-up (1): 2008

• League 1:

Winners (3): 2007, 2013, 2025

• League 1 Cup:

Winners (1): 2015

Runners-up (1): 2017