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9 hours ago
They have won the title and had the celebration, now North Wales Crusaders have set sights on the 2026 Super League.
But while going from third-tier League One to the top flight in one leap seems fanciful, chairman Bobby Watkins peppers his thoughts on Crusaders’ lofty aims with the word “sustainable”.
Following their takeover in December 2024 by Watkins’ son Arun – a Zambia rugby union sevens international – Colwyn Bay-based Crusaders topped League One, beating second-placed Workington Town by three points.
But even before going to Whitehaven on Saturday, where they lost 28-24, Crusaders were aware the Rugby Football League (RFL) had already announced that from next season the second-tier Championship of 13 teams and 10 League One clubs will be combined into one division for 2026.
At the same time, Super League will rise from 12 to 14 with the RFL pondering fixture formats for the new-look second division with no announcement due until after 16 October, when the Super League line-up for 2026 will be revealed.
Salford Reds’ financial plight is also among the RFL’s considerations as they sift bids to be part of the revamped Super League and Watkins has confirmed, with caveats, Crusaders have formally expressed their interest.
Even the approach to officially bidding to be part of the RFL’s planned revamp of Super League smacks of a probe into what hurdles must be negotiated off, as well as on the field to reach that strata, rather than a desire to have Crusaders’ name rapidly put up in lights.
‘There isn’t a limit to our ambitions’
“We have, let’s say, registered an interest to be considered for Super League status. There isn’t a limit to our ambitions,” Watkins tells BBC Sport Wales of the club formed in 2011 by fans following the demise of a previous incarnation.
“We do recognise there is a significant, massive difference from League One to Super League and we’re not at all disrespecting the effort and investment and energy and skill that will be required.
“Also full time commitment would be required to participate and compete in the Super League.
“But it’s true that we’ve registered our interest, and at this stage I guess, probably what we want to look at is look what’s the gap between where we are and where we would need to be in order to be a competitive Super League club.”
Watkins says he and his colleagues want to understand not only the requirements for “who’s on the pitch and the playing position” but also a desire to understand what’s needed “as a club from A to Z”.
At the same time Crusaders have launched a women’s team with parallel ambitions while continuing to develop junior pathways.
“We want to be something that people of north Wales could be proud about what we’re achieving,” says Watkins.
Alongside club owner and son Arun, Watkins hope to encourage more supporter engagement with a £30 share issue on the Republic platform.
That is all part of the family’s philosophy which Watkins explains is “a business approach, it’s not a donor approach to the model”.
He adds: “We don’t believe donor or benefactor approaches to sports clubs work… we do recognise the investment required to go through to the top level of the game is going to be considerable. But we’re definitely serious.
“We’re delighted to at least have got to the foothills and have achieved the first step in the ladder.”
‘We potentially have ruffled some feathers, which is awesome’
Bobby WatkinsOn the field, head coach Carl Foster led Crusaders to a 2025 campaign in which Crusaders finished three points clear of Workington Town and with a 332 points difference. It indicates the owners, who took over pre-season, were ambitious in their intent.
Watkins says the reaction of some opposition fans has also indicated Crusaders are being taken seriously.
“I’m getting abused now going back to the car, it suggests that we potentially have ruffled some feathers out there, which is awesome,” he says.
But again rooted in reality, Watkins says Crusaders accept that if, as expected, they are part of the the RFL’s future second tier, the on-field challenges next season will be significant.
“We know we’re going to lose a lot of games,” he says. “We accept that those learning opportunities are coming, but the reason why we’re going to lose those games is to learn how we’re going to go up the league and develop our opportunities.”
Watkins had even been hoping the RFL would have continued with this season’s play-offs despite the decision to amalgamate the Championship and League One and even though Crusaders squad had been “battered” during the latter stages of 2025.
“I was putting both arms and legs up in the air and saying ‘we want to play the play-offs. Let’s still play them’.
“We want them because we want to play more games of rugby and compete against the highest level we possibly can.”
He adds: “I don’t feel odd about not getting absolute promotion as a consequence of it. We should be proud about what we’ve done, proud about what we represent for north Wales.
“And win, lose or draw the first five, six, seven or eight games next season, I do think that people will be taking this super seriously coming into the Championship, and whether they’re historic championship clubs or they’re historic League One clubs, everybody’s going to be ready for it.
“And that’s something we’ve found the last month or so of this season that it’s almost like a cup final for one or two of those sides, because the best they can hope for their season is to beat the Crusaders, which we’ve got to take as a privileged position.”
In 2026, no matter which tier they are in, Crusaders will consider themselves the underdogs, albeit with a burning ambition to become one of the teams to beat in the longer term future.
