{"id":809650,"date":"2026-10-21T21:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809650\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T21:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T21:32:09","slug":"rfl-championship-club-pull-out-of-2027-season-over-licence-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809650\/","title":{"rendered":"RFL Championship club pull out of 2027 season over licence issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Championship side North Wales Crusaders<\/a> say they have regretfully pulled out of the 2027 season after the Rugby Football League (RFL) failed to sign off on a deal to give them a playing licence.<\/p>\n

Crusaders endured a miserable 2026 campaign on and off the field. The RFL subsequently insisted to the new ownership group that they needed a stable and coherent business plan, as well as proof of financial security, should they be given the chance to play on in the Championship next year.<\/p>\n

They took the unusual position of demanding an escrow of \u00a3150,000 from the club\u2019s ownership group, led by Jamie Elkaleh \u2013 something other clubs have not needed to do.<\/p>\n

Elkaleh confirmed even though they reluctantly agreed to those terms and showed proof of funding to the level of around \u00a3500,000, the RFL have still not agreed to give them a licence.<\/p>\n

And he insists enough is enough.<\/p>\n

North Wales pull out of Championship in 2027<\/p>\n

Speaking on social media, he confirmed the club had \u2018regretfully\u2019 pulled out of the 2027 Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that the players that are out there now in terms of potentially being able to sign mean that we\u2019re not in a position to build the club to where we want it to be in 2027,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoupled with investors and fans being frustrated by this process, it makes building for 2027 something that\u2019s increasingly difficult. I entered this process in good faith and I wanted to go out there and build something, and I believe we created a solid case \u2013 as did many other people in the sport. The governing body have not bought into that vision and supported it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with regret that we are going to withdraw from the 2027 season. That really hurts me to say that. A lot of time, energy and resource has gone into this stage and we don\u2019t want to pull out, we want to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we feel like.. why would we invest something into an organisation where we\u2019ve been penalised at every opportunity despite saving the face of the sport last year, coming in trying to protect Welsh rugby and the RFL long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elkaleh confirmed the club had agreed initially to comply with the escrow demand set out by the RFL \u2013 but with it still ongoing and no licence granted, they have lost patience with the governing body.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe actually agreed to do the 150k escrow. But as a board we have come together and thought about many options. This process has been going on since May. We\u2019ve demonstrated over three and a half times the funding value requested by the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, that wasn\u2019t satisfactory. They asked us to place the funds in an escrow, we confirmed that and even today, that escrow.. isn\u2019t finalised. Let\u2019s be super clear, until today it wasn\u2019t going to be independent and the final demand was it was kept with the RFL solicitor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elkaleh did say that if the RFL changed their terms and offered the Crusaders a licence, they may yet try and push through a hasty return for 2027. But for now, their plan is to be in the Championship in 2028.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe intend to come back in 2028 bigger and stronger and plans are underway to make that a reality. In the short-term we will roll out a reserves team, a women\u2019s team and a wheelchair team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an incredibly difficult decision to make and I am gutted. This is an open invitation to the RFL, we would continue to push forward but we don\u2019t recognise the restrictions put in place. If you want us to proceed we\u2019re happy to step up immediately, but the investment has to be on our terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

RFL provide response<\/p>\n

On the back of the video posted on social media by Crusaders chief Elkaleh, the RFL provided a response via a statement circulated on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n

Their statement reads: \u201cThe RFL Board can confirm that North Wales Crusaders have withdrawn from the process of securing club membership for the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cA new ownership group took over the club in May and were awarded interim membership to take it on until the end of the 2026 Championship season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny future participation was conditional on a comprehensive business plan being approved by the governing body before being admitted for the 2027 fixture list.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, North Wales have, so far, been unable to satisfy all of the RFL Board\u2019s requests for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recently appointed RFL Chief Executive Ian Nolan was the man to provide comment within the governing body\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

Nolan said: \u201cIt is unfortunate it has come to this as all parties have been working hard to get membership across the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to place on record our thanks to (North Wales Crusaders owner) Jamie Elkaleh and his team for their endeavours, hard work and determination in support of the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RFL is always striving to protect the history and the heritage of the game while also promoting and assisting it in new areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work hard with clubs throughout the year on various matters to help and augment them. We have done this with North Wales and together we have sought solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this instance, our primary duty is to staff and players to ensure North Wales could sustain the full season, both in being able to pay them and creditors as well as the ability to fulfil fixtures.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter careful consideration and due diligence, the RFL Board felt an escrow account would help ensure that happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, despite the parties attempting to find an acceptable and independent way of facilitating the escrow, the club was unwilling to agree to any proposed suggestion or deposit the funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it means they will not compete in the Championship in 2027 but we are keen to continue working with them, maintain constructive dialogue and try to secure a future for the club and professional rugby league in North Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cFurthermore, we are heartened by their public announcement they will be back bigger and stronger in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Championship side North Wales Crusaders say they have regretfully pulled out of the 2027 season after the Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-809650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}