The initial plan to re-use the 'Celtic Warriors' name was abandoned in favour of 'Celtic Crusaders' which had been considered by the rugby union franchise. They were to play their home games at
Brewery Field and games were planned to be held at Sardis Road as well.
The Crusaders' aim was to reach
Super League and to represent South Wales. Previous attempts to create
rugby league franchises in non-traditional areas have met with mixed success.
Gateshead Thunder and
Paris Saint Germain were given automatic entry to the Super League, Paris survived only two seasons and Gateshead were forcibly merged and reincarnated as a national league two side. The philosophy behind the creation of the Crusaders was a bottom up approach to ensure that the club grew with its playing and spectator base, into a nationally recognised sporting brand. The Crusaders' first match took place against
Harlequins Academy at Brewery Field. The Crusaders used the fixture as a chance to view the fringe players in their squad and secured a 22-22 draw. Their first competitive games were in the National League Cup; Crusaders were placed in a group along with
London Skolars,
Hemel Stags and
St Albans Centurions. Crusaders won every game convincingly and were installed as favourites to win National League Two in their first year. However, the team finished a creditable third and lost out 26-27 in the Final Eliminator to
Swinton Lions. They played against
Brisbane Broncos in the
Bulmers Original Cider Challenge at the Brewery Field on Thursday
February 15,
2007, losing with a respectable scoreline of 6-32.
In only their second season of existence, the Celtic Crusaders won the 2007 National League Two championship, thus earning automatic promotion to
National League One in 2008. The ***le was sealed with one match left to play as a result of
Featherstone Rovers away loss at
Barrow Raiders on
September 8,
2007.
[5] In that year fullback Tony Duggan won the National League Two Player of the Year award for 2007 with 40 tries through 2007.Jace Van Dijk, Neale Wyatt, Damien Quinn, Mark Dalle Cort, Neil Budworth, all joined Duggan in the National League Two all-star team.
[6]
In their first ever Co-operative National League One match, Celtic Crusaders, in atrocious conditions, claimed a hard-fought 14-12 win over Dewsbury Rams[/b]
