
Our journey around the villages, towns and cities that have rugby league running through their veins arrives in North Wales.
HOLLYWOOD is synonymous with a good story.
And the rise of football club Wrexham, scripted by two of the famous American film centre’s A-list stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, certainly comes into that category.
Since the two actors’ takeover, the north Wales team have not only risen rapidly through the ranks, from non-league to the third tier, two off the Premier League.
They have also rocketed to worldwide fame, a trajectory driven by the reach of their celebrity owners’ social-media accounts and a globally-streamed documentary ‘Welcome to Wrexham’, which told of the club’s long and eventful history and shone a spotlight on the latest chapter.
So it seems strange to think that rugby league was once considered crucial to the very survival of Wales’ oldest professional football club, formed in 1864.
For 145 years on in 2009, Wrexham were really struggling, dogged by severe financial problems and having the year before lost the Football League status they had proudly gained in 1921.
The Racecourse Ground outfit weren’t the only Welsh sports club finding life hard.
Around 150 miles to the south in Bridgend, Celtic Crusaders were at the end of their first top-flight rugby league campaign.
Crusaders had played in the third tier in their first two seasons, 2006 and 2007, and the second in 2008 before becoming Wales’ first Super League club after winning a licence to run from 2009 to 2011.
However amid the mid-season loss of a string of overseas players over visa issues, John Dixon’s side had finished bottom, winning only three of their 27 matches, and attracted an average attendance of just 3,603 (only Harlequins – now London Broncos – were lower).
Knowing the Brewery Field home of rugby union’s Bridgend, where they had played since formation, didn’t meet RFL standards, and with developing rugby league interest throughout Wales part of their blueprint, Crusaders had planned to move to Rodney Parade in Newport for 2010 and 2011, while taking occasional games ‘on the road’, with Llanelli and Wrexham suggested destinations.
Rodney Parade had hosted the home clash with Leeds, watched by 5,597, Crusaders’ second-highest gate of the year.
But within four months, the Newport idea was shelved after Crusaders backer Leighton Samuel accepted a bid from a consortium led by Wrexham chairman Geoff Moss to take over the Super League licence.
Instead Crusaders, who had dropped ‘Celtic’ from their title and installed Brian Noble as coach in place of Dixon, confirmed the majority of matches would be played at the Racecourse Ground, with two taken to Neath, from where a new club, South Wales Scorpions, would play in the third tier.
Wrexham had staged a couple of Wales rugby league internationals – the 38-6 win over Cook Islands at the 2000 World Cup, watched by 5,016, and the following year’s 42-33 loss to England (6,373) but this was the first professional club based in the north of the country.
There was criticism from some quarters, with claims that the Super League licence had been won on the premise of establishing rugby league in south Wales, not within 40 miles of St Helens, Warrington and Widnes.
However Crusaders called the move “the only realistic option to ensure the survival of the club”.
And Wrexham chief executive Paul Retout said it could also help secure the football club’s future.
“We can’t survive if only 1,800 fans are coming through the gates,” he pointed out.
“It’s not just about pumping money into the football club, we want to help develop rugby league, build an interest in it and get young kids involved.
“This is a coup for Wrexham and north Wales. It’s good for the city and the economy of the region.
“We needed to do something to diversify and protect the Racecourse Ground going forward.”
There was some initial encouragement as 10,334 turned out for Crusaders’ first match in Wrexham against Leeds.
Across the season, when national headlines were made by the signing of rugby union star Gareth Thomas, the former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain, the average attendance for games at the Racecourse Ground was 5,223 as Noble’s side finished sixth to make the play-offs.
However over the close-season, Crusaders went through a period of administration, resulting in a four-point deduction ahead of the 2011 campaign, by which time Iestyn Harris had replaced Noble.
His side finished bottom, the average gate was 3,377 and after earlier announcing they had withdrawn an application for a new Super League licence for 2012 to 2014, the club were disbanded.
It wasn’t the end of rugby league in Wrexham, where two further Wales internationals, including a clash with Australia, had been played.
For the current North Wales Crusaders were formed in time to play in the third-tier Championship One in 2012.
They remained at the Racecourse Ground – which hosted two 2013 World Cup ties, including Australia’s quarter-final win over USA, until 2016, after which they spent four seasons at the smaller Queensway Stadium, which remains home to Wrexham Athletics Club.
Since 2021, North Wales Crusaders have played in Colwyn Bay at what is now known as Stadiwm CSM.
There are hopes that the takeover of the club earlier this year by Jamie Elkaleh, who has made his money through cryptocurrency, will underpin a bid to regain the second-tier status enjoyed in 2014.
The last of the ten Wales internationals played at the Racecourse Ground was the 40-8 European Championship win over Ireland in November 2018.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 503 (December 2024)
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