Championship side North Wales Crusaders say they have regretfully pulled out of the 2027 season after the Rugby Football League failed to sign off on a deal to give them a playing licence.

Crusaders endured a miserable 2026 campaign on and off the field. The RFL subsequently insisted to the new ownership group that they needed a stable and coherent business plan, as well as proof of financial security, should they be given the chance to play on in the Championship next year.

They took the unusual position of demanding an escrow of £150,000 from the club’s ownership group, led by Jamie Elkaleh – something other clubs have not needed to do.

And Elkaleh confirmed even though they reluctantly agreed to those terms and showed proof of funding to the level of around £500,000, the RFL have still not agreed to give them a licence.

And Elkaleh insists enough is enough.

North Wales pull out of Championship in 2027

Speaking on social media, he confirmed the club had ‘regretfully’ pulled out of the 2027 Championship.

“The reality is that the players that are out there now in terms of potentially being able to sign mean that we’re not in a position to build the club to where we want it to be in 2027,” he said.

“Coupled with investors and fans being frustrated by this process, it makes building for 2027 something that’s increasingly difficult. I entered this process in good faith and I wanted to go out there and build something, and I believe we created a solid case – as did many other people in the sport. The governing body have not bought into that vision and supported it.

“It is with regret that we are going to withdraw from the 2027 season. That really hurts me to say that. A lot of time, energy and resource has gone into this stage and we don’t want to pull out, we want to proceed.

“But we feel like.. why would we invest something into an organisation where we’ve been penalised at every opportunity despite saving the face of the sport last year, coming in trying to protect Welsh rugby and the RFL long-term.”

North Wales keep door open for RFL

Elkaleh confirmed the club had agreed initially to comply with the escrow demand set out by the RFL – but with it still ongoing and no licence granted, they have lost patience with the governing body.

He said: “We actually agreed to do the 150k escrow. But as a board we have come together and thought about many options. This process has been going on since May. We’ve demonstrated over three and a half times the funding value requested by the league.

“However, that wasn’t satisfactory. They asked us to place the funds in an escrow, we confirmed that and even today, that escrow.. isn’t finalised. Let’s be super clear, until today it wasn’t going to be independent and the final demand was it was kept with the RFL solicitor.”

Elkaleh did say that if the RFL changed their terms and offered the Crusaders a licence, they may yet try and push through a hasty return for 2027. But for now, their plan is to be in the Championship in 2028.

He said: “We intend to come back in 2028 bigger and stronger and plans are underway to make that a reality. In the short-term we will roll out a reserves team, a women’s team and a wheelchair team.

“This is an incredibly difficult decision to make and I am gutted. This is an open invitation to the RFL, we would continue to push forward but we don’t recognise the restrictions put in place. If you want us to proceed we’re happy to step up immediately, but the investment has to be on our terms.”

The RFL have been approached for comment.