Hello

I've been taking an interest in the fortunes of the Crusaders this season and wondered if you had considered the possibility of setting up a Supporters Trust at all? My name is Laura Harrison and I am the Rugby League Development Officer for Supporters Direct, an organisation set up to develop and assist supporters trusts across football and now rugby league.

The club obviously has a hardcore of supporters which is great to see and a supporters trust could be a mechanism to harness this passion and use it in a productive way to support both the club, it's supporters and the game in the wider area.

Whilst the example of Rochdale Hornets is an extreme one, with the trust now in ownership of the club, there are several other examples of supporters trusts in rugby league working hand in hand with the professional club to develop the profile of both organisations and ultimately strengthening the game in the area. For example, Warrington Wolves Squadbuilder is solely focussed on youth development and works hand in hand with the development team at the club to find new ways of working. They currently sponsor the academy and reserve grade sides and have also provided kit for the scholarship players as well as other equipment.

The forming of a trust may also help to galvanise supporters who may have fallen away from the club in recent times.

If this sounds like something you may be interested in, please feel free to give me a call on 07985 628 215 or via email at laura.harrison@supporters-direct.org and I will be happy to provide more information. You can also visit our website at www.supporters-direct.org

Kind regards

Laura Harrison

Hello

I've been taking an interest in the fortunes of the Crusaders this season and wondered if you had considered the possibility of setting up a Supporters Trust at all? My name is Laura Harrison and I am the Rugby League Development Officer for Supporters Direct, an organisation set up to develop and assist supporters trusts across football and now rugby league.

The club obviously has a hardcore of supporters which is great to see and a supporters trust could be a mechanism to harness this passion and use it in a productive way to support both the club, it's supporters and the game in the wider area.

Whilst the example of Rochdale Hornets is an extreme one, with the trust now in ownership of the club, there are several other examples of supporters trusts in rugby league working hand in hand with the professional club to develop the profile of both organisations and ultimately strengthening the game in the area. For example, Warrington Wolves Squadbuilder is solely focussed on youth development and works hand in hand with the development team at the club to find new ways of working. They currently sponsor the academy and reserve grade sides and have also provided kit for the scholarship players as well as other equipment.

The forming of a trust may also help to galvanise supporters who may have fallen away from the club in recent times.

If this sounds like something you may be interested in, please feel free to give me a call on 07985 628 215 or via email at laura.harrison@supporters-direct.org and I will be happy to provide more information. You can also visit our website at www.supporters-direct.org

Kind regards

Laura Harrison

Laura, we're very much interested in this idea. If you post something on our own supporters' forum (http://celticcrusaders.proboards.com/index.cgi?) you're probably more likely to get a decent response, and maybe you could answer a few of our questions about it all.

Laura, we're very much interested in this idea. If you post something on our own supporters' forum (http://celticcrusaders.proboards.com/index.cgi?) you're probably more likely to get a decent response, and maybe you could answer a few of our questions about it all.