Rugby League: Crusaders are taken over

BRISBANE BRONCOS, one of the world's leading clubs, today become the new owners of the financially struggling London Crusaders, following a unique takeover, writes Dave Hadfield. The Crusaders are being renamed the London Broncos and it is likely that, eventually, virtually everything else about them will change as well.

Brisbane's managing director, the former Test winger, John Ribot, said: 'We're happy that the availability of the Crusaders coincided with our plans to expand our interests globally. London is an enormously exciting market to get involved in. The marketing prospects are unlimited and, we believe, to this point largely untapped. '

This kind of arrangement between an Australian and an English club has never been attempted. Nobody is better equipped for the task than the Broncos. In their relatively short history, they have become the strongest club in Australia, winning the Winfield Cup for the past two seasons and beating Wigan in the World Club Challenge.