New Welsh club aim for Super League
New Championship 1 club South Wales RLFC are aiming to apply for Super League in 2015.
Director Mark Rowley set out their bold ambition while announcing news that the club will hold an open trial for players for their debut season.
The newly formed club, who will play their home matches out of Neath RFC, open their inaugural campaign against former Super League club Workington at The Gnoll on Sunday February 28.
Rowley said: “We’re hoping to be good enough to gain promotion to the Championship within two years and in six years time, we want to be able to compete for a Super League licence. I’m confident that we have the structure here to enable that to happen.”
The club are now planning for the 2010 following the confirmation of their inclusion in the third tier, although they will not compete in the Northern Rail Cup or the Challenge Cup.
Rowley added: “The open trial is for League or union players to come along. The player base is fantastic here in South Wales. We know that we’ll be able to use players who were in the Crusaders reserve team last season but there is still a lot of untapped talent out there.
“We’ll be a 99 percent Welsh club which will be good for our identity. We won’t be importing any players at all from Australia or New Zealand. We want Welsh players to go on and play Super League.”
Wales continues to be represented in Super League by Crusaders, who confirmed their relocation to Wrexham earlier this week. They started in National League 2 in 2006, before gaining promotion in 2007 and achieve a licence in 2008 to reach the top flight.
South Wales believe they can provide a crucial pathway to the top flight for young Welsh players.
“Moving from the Conference to the Super League is too big a step. They need this middle ground in order to go on and play Super League and then for Wales. As a nation, we’re building towards qualification for the 2011 Four Nations and 2013 World Cup and this club is an important stepping stone in player development.”
“We are hoping to develop links where players can travel back and forth. We’ll be more than a feeder side as players will be able to travel both ways. If the Welsh youngsters are not being used by the Crusaders, hopefully we can get them back.”
The trial will take place on Sunday January 10th at 1pm at the University of Glamorgan playing fields in Trefforest.
Players need to apply by filling in an form. These will be online by the end of this week at www.cymrurl.com and on the new South Wales RLFC website that will go live next week.