The Central Luzon Crusaders is a Philippine rugby league team based in Indang,

Cavite Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest ...

. They play in the Philippines National Rugby League Championship.

History

The Central Luzon Crusaders was established in 2013 as the Indang Rebels. The rugby league team was established by expatriate students from

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

attending higher education institutions in the Philippines. For three years the Rebels competed at the annual Papua New Guinea Independence day competition at the Adventist University of the Philippines. In late 2015, Marc Leabres contacted, four out of the six teams, the Indang Rebels, PerSouth Brothers, Recto Royals, and the United Vikings which were participating at the PNG Independence day tournaments looking for a team to sponsor to be part of the Philippines National Rugby League Championship. Leabres is a Filipino-Australian who works as a "performance analyst" with the Cronulla Sharks of the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

looking to develop rugby league in the Philippines. Only the Indang Rebels responded to Leabres' offer The name of the team was changed to "Central Luzon Crusaders" by Leabres as a homage to his family's home region of

Central Luzon Central Luzon ( pam, (Reyun ning) Kalibudtarang Luzon, pag, (Rehiyon na) Pegley na Luzon, tgl, (Rehiyon ng) Gitnang Luzon, ilo, (Rehion/Deppaar ti) Tengnga ti Luzon), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...

and the Clark City Crusaders, a Filipino-Australian team he played for at the Zambalez 9's which was organized by the Philippines National Rugby League. Asa Gorden one of the founding Papuan New Guinean students remarked that the "Rebels" name had "nothing special" and was satisfied of the prospect of joining the national rugby league and promoting the sport in the country. The team will participate at the finals of the 2016 Philippines National Rugby League Championship.

References

{{reflist Philippines National Rugby League teams Rugby clubs established in 2013 Sports in Cavite