North Wales Crusaders get RFL green light to resume season

North Wales Crusaders will return to action in the Championship this Saturday after a turbulent few weeks which has seen the club's very existence under threat.

The Colwyn Bay-based club had to cancel their last two games when players departed after not being paid.

That came after Crusaders' previous owners – The EggChaser Group - announced it would no longer be funding the club, who won League One last year.

But a new company – NW Rugby League 26 Ltd – is now in control of the club and has been granted an interim licence by the Rugby Football League (RFL) to continue for the current 2026 campaign.

That means they will fulfil their fixture at Goole Vikings on Saturday but are having to recruit a new squad of players from scratch.

"The context of the season has changed now," said Conrad Anderson, a club volunteer who has been working to ensure the the club continued.

"Obviously a new board has been assembled, it's been rectified and a new company has been set up.

"That will give us the best chance to go again in 2027.

"We've got to be upbeat, and at the end of the day the club has been through the wars."

Crusaders had been taken over in December 2024 by Bobby Watkins and son Arun - a Zambia rugby union sevens international.

Last year they won the League One title and secure their place in the new-look Championship, with then-chairman Bobby Watkins speaking of the club's Super League ambitions.

But in April the Surrey-based EggChaser Group announced it would "no longer fund the additional costs to run the club with immediate effect".

Players, who had not been paid for a number of months, subsequently left the club with their contracts null and void.

The club were forced to forfeit their 1895 Cup tie against Midlands Hurricanes and were forced to cancel their league game away to Doncaster.

"I just think the previous owners have lived beyond their means basically and it became very obvious to them that they couldn't fulfill the fixtures," said Anderson, who outlined the situation the club was in at a fans forum in Wrexham on Wednesday.

"They basically pulled the funding and refused to pay players essentially, and that became a legality with the former players that have now left.

"So the squad which we built up in the beginning of this year have now gone to other clubs.

"At the moment we are speaking to players' agents to assemble a squad for a fixture which is going to happen on Saturday.

"I do think the like-minded people coming together who love the club, if you cut them open they'll be Crusaders through and through.

"We're people that care about the club and it's basically been a race against the clock to get the business plan over, and the proposals over that have been signed off by the RFL.

"We're very confident that we're in a good place and we will succeed."

North Wales Crusaders were formed in 2011 after the previous incarnation – Crusaders – pulled out of Super League and subsequently folded.

"We've gone through this several times before but the fans are resilient and they will fight and we will not let it go," Anderson added.

"It brings the community together in some aspects as well and I think it's hard hats on, camaraderie, let's do it and that bringing almost a community spirit.

"Yes, it's nice to win a game but it's not about that really - it's about community.

"Obviously we had our ambitions at the beginning of the year but the squad was worth six figures - now it's five figures.

"You're going to see a bit of a difference.

"We've got to be realistic about it. We're not going to win every game and it's going to be some tough afternoons.

"But... the narrative has changed, it's all about existing and I think as long as we can compete and fulfil our obligations we're in a good place."