Cru hoping to toast the old Brewery in style
Farewell
By Chris O'Brien
September 5 2009
Crusaders fans are preparing to bid an emotional farewell to the Brewery Field on Saturday evening. John Dixon will be hoping his men hand their old home a better send-off than two of South Wales’ biggest sporting names managed last season.
Cardiff City FC and the
Cardiff Blues RUFC both left stadia last season to move into the newly-build ‘Cardiff
City Stadium' at Leckwith.
However, neither club was
able to give their old home an even semi-satisfactory send off.
The Bluebirds bid
farewell to Ninian
Park with a shambolic
performance. Dave Jones' side were thumped 3-0 by Ipswich Town.
Most fans weren't ready to draw the curtain on Ninian at that stage, with a
play-off fixture expected to be on the horizon - but City completed their
end-of-season capitulation at Sheffield
Wednesday and ended up finishing 7th.
Meanwhile, the Blues
departed the Arms
Park on a miserable
afternoon. Whilst the Saders were grabbing national headlines with a stunning
win at Odsal, Dai Young fielded a below-strength XV that suffered a humiliating
36-14 home defeat against Edinburgh
in front of over 11,000 supporters.
Dixon's Saders play their final regular Super League
game at the Brewery Field on Saturday evening. Huddersfield are the visitors -
and after four years in Bridgend, the club will be desperate not to emulate
their sporting neighbours in Cardiff
and instead give their traditional base a fitting send-off. Cru, however, are
again massive underdogs.
London Skolars were Cru's first opponents at the Brewery Field back in 2006 and a 78-14 win was secured with ease. Since then the likes of Lokomotiv Moscow, the Brisbane Broncos and a host of Super League clubs have all visited the stadium. Though the club are likely to play at the Brewery Field again in "on the road" fixtures, Saturday's game marks an emotional ‘end of era' for the Crusaders and Rugby League in South Wales.