Death of Rugby League in Wales?

Abbey wrote: TonduTurk wrote: KID A wrote: lofty evans wrote: A Evans wrote: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/14189659.stm What about the new Bridgend stadium then, is it linked to this team.. It will be very interesting to see who plays from that stadium. If anybody. dont think its been approved yet (i'm sure abbey can give us more details). i'll be shocked if it ever gets built. to build the whole complex must be about £100 Million !!. where's the money going to come from. i'm sure it'll all go tits-up and they'll build houses instead (which is why, i think, the crusaders failed, the people in charge arent really interested in the rugby, they're more interested in the land/complex and building on it). Keith Senior not a happy - KeithSenior4 Crusaders have f****d me over, what a b*****d joke, excuse my language I'm absolutely furious KeithSenior4 Looks like I need to look for a job http://twitter.com/#!/KeithSenior4 i dont know how the crusaders withdrawing their application will affect wrexham fc (maybe administration ?). Bridgend County Borough Council have approved outline planning permission based on the fact that there will be three stadia (one 15,000 for the Crusaders, one 5,000 seat for Bridgend Ravens and one 2,000 seat for Bridgend Town FC) as well as a swimming pool and tennis centre. Problem is that in order for this to fall within the local planning development plan, there has to be an over-riding need. They've always insisted that the Crusaders would return to play in Bridgend, despite having a 25-year agreement to play in Wrexham. The over-riding need disappears without the 15,000 seat stadium. The planning application now passes to the Welsh Government as there is self interest in Bridgend as some land is council owned which will be sold to the developers. Who knows what the Welsh Government will do but the developers say that they don't need a "resident" team as people like the Welsh FA and WRU have shown an interest in the stadium. Really? So they build a £25M stadium so that Wales can play Luxembourg once in every few years there? Is that cost effective? Anyway, the upshot is that planning will be given but the stadium will probably not get built.................unless the Ospreys play there!!!

They then can downsize the main stadium to away supporters +25.....

To be fair there are quite a lot of Os fans in the Bridgend area,

M.M. wrote:  The same fate would have befallen the rugby union pro team had Moffett been allowed to have his way in 2003 and sited the 4th team up there instead of in Llanelli.   There is no tradition of supporting ANY top level rugby up there. It is soccer country.   Sorry for everybody who is losing their jobs mind. Not good at all.

Have to disagree there. There is a lot of support for rugby in North Wales it's just that the chances to watch it are limited. When the Scarlets played in North Wales crowds were on par with those at Stradey at the time. You would get over 10,000 going to watch Wales A play when they played there and the 1999 World Cup game between Japan and Samoa sold out as well.

The WRU have constantly seen North Wales as a nothing area in terms of rugby. A few seasons ago Llangefni finished second in Division 3 West and should have been promoted to division 2 West, but the WRU deemed that North Wales based teams should not be allowed to play teams from the south, actually relegated Llangefni down to Division 4 North. How is rugby meant to thrive in an area where the WRU blatently limit how far a club can develop?

As for the crusaders, crowds were better at Wrexham than they were at Bridgend, so in a way the Crusaders were doomed to failure right from the beginning. They expanded too quickly to get into the Super League and are no paying the price. They never captured the imagination of the public in the way they hoped.

What's baffling about the whole episode is that Wakefield are now allowed to stay in the Super League despite not meeting the criteria to gain a licence. Don't agree with the licence system at all, too many flaws and it only works in the best interests of a few. Feel really sorry for Halifax who by rights should now be a Super League side.

Rant over.