Crusaders' Super League future hangs in the balance

Wales may retain its Super League club next season, but only if the Crusaders directors agree to the Rugby Football League's conditions for accepting their plan to enter administration. The Wrexham-based club have submitted an application to relaunch as a new company after receiving a winding-up order from HMRC, and are now due in court tomorrow week. But the directors have been warned by the RFL that they will only retain their Super League place if they agree to provide the substantial investment necessary to pay off a number of debts, including the missing pension contributions that have led to a legal challenge from the Rugby League Players' Association – and that the team are likely to start next season with a deduction of up to six points. Both the RFL and the other Super League clubs are keen to retain a Welsh presence, after the success enjoyed in recent months both by the Crusaders – who qualified for the top-eight playoffs despite the upheaval of their move from Bridgend to Wrexham, generated positive publicity from the signing of Gareth Thomas, and attracted some encouraging attendances – and the rejuvenated Wales national team, who have earned a place in next year's Four Nations series after winning the European Cup. But even if they are accepted into the competition for next season, the Crusaders will have to prove an ability to contribute to it if they are to have any chance of retaining their place when new three-year licences are awarded from 2012. The club's chairman, Ian Roberts, told BBC Wales that he is "99% sure that we'll be playing rugby league in Wrexham next year". That suggests the Crusaders directors are likely to accept the RFL's conditions when they meet today, although they will still need to have their administration accepted by the courts. However the latest problems of Super League's controversial Welsh expansion club have already provoked anger from the game's traditional heartland. Derek Twigg, the MP whose Halton constituency includes Widnes – who missed out to the Celtic Crusaders in the original licensing process in the summer of 2008 – said that allowing them to stay in the competition "would be a truly scandalous decision in view of the fact that the RFL and its chief executive Richard Lewis are on record stating the main reason Widnes was not granted a Super League licence in 2008 was because it had gone into administration". Wakefield, Castleford and Salford, the three heartland clubs most obviously threatened by Widnes's likely promotion next time around, will now have an even stronger case should they be excluded while the Crusaders survive.