Celtic Crusaders Submit Stadium Plans
The Celtic Crusaders, the newest team to join rugby league’s Super League, have submitted plans for a 15,000-capacity stadium in Bridgend to the local council.
The Crusaders’ planned new ground on a former prisoner of war camp at Island Farm will include bars, corporate hospitality and conference suites.
The proposal is on the site where the Welsh Rugby Union suffered a failed attempt to build a £10m rugby academy. That plan was abandoned by the council after assembly government approval.
The Bridgend-based league side have enjoyed a dramatic rise since their inception in 2005, culminating in winning a Super League franchise for next year’s campaign.
The Crusaders are the first Welsh side to enter the new extended Super League and join France-based side Catalans Dragons in the premier rugby league tournament in the northern hemisphere.
The Crusaders won a three-year Super League licence but currently play at the small Brewery Field, the home of Bridgend’s rugby union team.
The new stadium is at the centre of the proposed £40m 130-acre Island Farm Sporting Village, which will include a rugby union pitch for Bridgend Ravens, a football pitch for Bridgend Town, an indoor tennis centre, a boxing gym and several training and community pitches.
The application is expected to face opposition as the WRU’s previous application for a rugby academy caused big protests.
The £10m state-of-the-art academy and plans to build 210 homes were approved by the Welsh assembly but Bridgend council’s cabinet said it would not proceed with the plans.
