Crusaders roadshow complete success

If you weren't at the food hall at Bridgend Designer Outlet last Saturday, you missed out on one of the best Celtic Crusaders public appearances ever.

All 25 Celtic Crusaders squad members made appearances, less than 12 hours after getting back to Wales following their historic first Super League match at Leeds Rhinos, to sign autographs and have photos taken with fans.

Fixture lists were given out and ticket competitions took place. All backroom staff were also there (John Dixon, Kevin Ellis, Anthony Seibold, Thibault Giroud, Gerald McCarthy, Mike Turner) as was the still unnamed Crusaders mascot and engage's very own Sid the Savings Pig. The event was presented by Andrew Whitelam from the Rugby Football League while videos from last year's Super League and a preview of this year's were shown on big screens.

Hundreds of autographs were signed by the players for fans new and old with many people visiting because they had seen the Leeds Rhinos match on Sky Sports the night before which was their first ever viewing of the Crusaders.

Crusaders' Operations Manager Gerald McCarthy said: "This really was a fantastic event and I'd like to thank all the players for turning up just hours after they'd played a very tough game in Super League. You wouldn't find that at most sports clubs. It was also good to see so many fans at Bridgend Designer Outlet plus I think we gained more than a few new supporters in the process - it's outstanding how many people saw us on TV the previous night then made a special visit to Bridgend Designer Outlet because of that. We look forward to seeing all of them, plus many others when we play our first ever home Super League game at the Brewery Field in Bridgend on Saturday 21st February."

Tickets for that historic first home match that kicks off at 6pm, can be bought by calling 01656 658535.