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Rugby League

Leigh "disgusted" at Celtic licence decision

23/07/2008

Leigh Centurions chief executive Allan Rowley has said he is "disgusted" at the decision of the Rugby Football League (RFL) to award a Super League licence to Celtic Crusaders.

Rowley's club was passed over in favour of the Brigend-based outfit, who will be the first-ever Welsh club to compete in Super League after being offered a place for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.

The guaranteed spot for Crusaders is part of the RFL's new licence system, which will do away with promotion and relegation from the National League structure.

But Rowley believes the game's decision-makers "should hang their heads in shame" for promoting the Welsh team ahead of more traditional clubs such as Widnes Vikings, Halifax and Leigh themselves.

"May we take this opportunity to wish Salford and Celtic all the best but also have to say we are thoroughly disgusted with the Celtic decision," Rowley said.

"We now have a team that fielded ten overseas players against us because they are classed as a development team and are now in our elite competition, which is a complete contradiction of terms and we feel this decision is purely a geographical one.

"We have nothing at all against the people who run Celtic, they can only do what they do within the laws of the game but the decision-makers should hang their heads in shame."

He added: "We know that there is no system for appealing but we are definitely going to ask the RFL how Celtic ticked more boxes than us - we owe that to the public of Leigh."

A spokesperson from Leigh confirmed to inthenews.co.uk that the club would be speaking to Richard Lewis from the RFL "as soon as possible" to "get some answers" on the issues which the club believe are yet to be dealt with.

The Crusaders and Salford City Reds will take their places in the expanded 14-team Super League along with the existing top-flight clubs, who all had their status renewed.

Leigh Centurions, Halifax, Widnes Vikings, Toulouse and Featherstone Rovers were the five clubs to miss out on a licence after submitting bids.