[url=http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/09/12/10/RUGBYL_Wales.htmlMore...[/url

Groundhog day anyone?

I am afraid I disagree with you Grendel and that RL will not be dead in South Wales if Bridgend don't get a side in the Championship.



Bridgend isn't the only place in Wales that is fostering and developing RL

How far away from Bridgend is Neath?

About 20 miles roughly

Wether it's 20 miles or not isn't the issue , just asking the question of the Celtic Crusaders fans , will you follow either or both clubs ? , and if not , why not ?

I can't imagine what it feels like to be a Crusaders fan at the moment, especially one of that small bunch of heroes that travelled to their away games.



I can't see many people from South Wales travelling all the way to Wrexham for home games. If I were in their position I'd probably transfer my allegiance to the new side. This of course begs the question as to where the home support for Crusaders is going to come from. You couldn't blame recent converts for just giving up on the game.



Didn't a team called South Wales die a death a couple of decades ago? I suppose a lot of ground work has been done since then and I fervently hope it succeeds but I can't help that feeling of deja vu.



If that really is going to be the new club's name, maybe the Crusaders should adopt "North Wales" to get a bit of rivalry going. I never liked the name "Crusaders" anyway. It has far too much historical and political baggage with it.



I enjoyed my one and only visit to Bridgend. The Celtic fans were a good bunch and I hope they stick with at least one of the teams. Who knows, maybe in the long run this could turn out well. It would be a crying shame if all the development work that produced such an exciting crop of young players went to waste.

Shame that the Neath club isn't looking to play home games in Bridgend, a two-centre club playing at grounds 20 miles from each other - not that far and building on the Crusaders' fanbase.

To answer the question I will always follow the Crusaders and try to get to what games I can, but in reality the C1 team being 30 minutes from my door and the Wrexham team being 3 hours from my door will obviously have a bearing.



I've only been into League for the last two years and whilst I've been happy to travel silly distances to watch my team play away games it's always been tempered with knowing I had thirteen games at home (even though that is about 70 mile round trip it still does not compare to a 250 mile round trip).



I can't stop watching the game now (nor my wife and son) so we'll probably land up doing the away games for C1 instead and try and get to a Crusaders game if it fits in with away games or no games for C1.



Am I right in thinking the majority of C1 games are Sunday?



FWIW I think the club has treated the fans appalingly and whilst I'm always grateful for someone putting a lot of money up to get us into SL this whole episode has caused me some angst. I always remember though that without the Crusaders I wouldn't have discovered this great game. Given the last few months events I just need to decide whether that's a blessing or a curse!!

I would hope that one of the reasons the fixtures have been delayed is to have the Crusaders and the ' New '

South Wales at home on opposite weeks , we are talking about the RFL here though

Will still follow crusaders unless they change the name to Wrexham/northwales then it wouldn't be my team. I'm in Devon and made about half of the home games and 3 away games last year. Wrexham is essentially all away games so will only make maybe 1 all season plus quins away. It was my local team and I embraced them as my local team now this cc1 team is the local one I'll try and get to a few of their games.

It's a mixed blessing.





Following an RL club is an up and down experience because RL clubs are invariably linked to a community (Quins aside). That's just what RL is like. So when your club dies or moves or behaves irresponsibly in some way, it's kind of personal.



I don't know anything about the sports politics around Neath. Is it a big Union area or is there room for League to build on the work done in the Bridgend area? Hasn't Leighton Samuels pulled the plug on another team growing at Bridgend and isn't that why Neath has come into the equation? Isn't a consortium funding the Neath venture? If there is room for League in Neath and if it is a consortium funding the club then perhaps South Wales (how original!) has a chance, bearing in mind the work done under John Dixon in developing the youth participation in the area. If the club at Neath does manage to get off the ground and if the Crusaders begin to seriously challenge in Superleague next season then having the two clubs in the professional leagues in Wales could be a really good thing for the future of the sport there.



However, that doesn't take away the impact of the dismal manner in which the fans have been treated and that they are now left with a choice of a Championship 1 team which is further away but nowhere near as far as the Superleague team they were supporting just a few months ago. I really cannot understand how this situation has been allowed to develop by the RFL. They have the leadership skill of a sheep.