BOBBY WATKINS, Chairman of North Wales Crusaders, explains why his club supports the RFL’s decision to merge the Championship and League One, despite the fact that his club has won the third-tier title, and why they have given notice that they would like to be considered for a place in Super League.

WE’VE invested a lot of energy to compete in League One this season and we’ve done so with the mindset that we wanted to see if we could top the table and compete for promotion, so that’s always been our aim, to be able to compete in a higher division.

I personally feel that merging the leagues gives the best opportunity for the clubs to benefit because there are enough quality teams across the country to provide brilliant competition every weekend.

So it’s actually good news for us as we are ambitious and we want to grow and improve. We want to push on with the development of our squad and provide opportunities for people in North Wales. In doing so we think that all the clubs having the chance to participate in one competition in the second tier is the best way to go.

The way we think about this is that it’s an opportunity. We want to look up, not down. We are enthused by what Oldham have achieved this year in the Championship, with them currently sitting in fourth position. They have done a tremendous job and we have similar ambitions.

We are thinking about how to use this as a platform to grow. How do we become more competitive over time? How do we increase the number of people coming to watch Rugby League in North Wales?

We have already seen interest picking up and we want to ensure that process continues.

So why should we not dream of being in the top level of the competition structure at some point? 

Ambitious folk like us are thinking about how to invest in this product to become successful and translating that success into playing at a higher and higher level.

We are behind what the RFL is doing because we see as an opportunity to play in a tougher competition and learn from it.

We have a beautiful stadium with 14 hospitality boxes and loads of corporate areas. We are located in Colwyn Bay, which is a beautiful part of the world. 

There are 700,000 people in our immediate hinterland and you know there’s a small football team (Wrexham) in the area that has demonstrated what’s possible.

I accept that we don’t have Hollywood at the Crusaders but we do have that that sort of energy behind us. But then we are talking about the same demographic of supporters with the same potential. 

We’re developing a ladies set-up and we plan to get into the under-18s group and provide opportunity for young players from North Wales to get contracts with Super League clubs while in the long term providing a North Wales option for them.

We believe we have unlimited potential. Our mission is to get to the highest level we can and put on a great product and increase the interest locally in North Wales.

From my perspective I would be happy to see another club in South Wales, perhaps in Cardiff, to give Rugby League an opportunity to increase its footprint. And I would say similar things about other major cities. Obviously we’ve got Midlands Hurricanes in the Birmingham area and I’m sure there are other cities with potential.

We have owned the club for less than a year but we are convinced that Rugby League in North Wales has a great future.