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System

The NCRL comprised two national divisions; National Premier League and National League One. Beneath them were five regional conferences; National Conference Cumbria, National Conference North West, National Conference Southern, National Conference Yorkshire A and National Conference Yorkshire B.

In each division clubs played each other twice, once at their home stadium and once at their opponents. Teams receive two points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. Teams were ranked by competition points, points difference (points scored less points conceded), and points scored.

At the end of the season in the National Premier League, the top six teams entered the play-offs with the winner being crowned NCRL champions. The bottom three clubs were relegated to National League One.

National Premier League

Clubs

National League One

Clubs

National Conference Cumbria

Clubs

National Conference North-West

Clubs

National Conference Southern

Clubs

National Conference Yorkshire

History

Early years

The club was first formed as "York Football Club" in 1868 and played both association and rugby football, for the first few seasons they had portable goal posts as they did not have their own ground and would play wherever they could find a pitch. Eventually a permanent pitch was secured on Knavesmire. Other early grounds included Clifton Ings and Poad's Field.

It took three years for the club to record their first victory, and that was in an association football match against York Training College. Results picked up in the mid-1870s as the club attracted a higher standard of player. In 1877, York were among several leading Yorkshire clubs who inaugurated the Yorkshire Cup. In the first season 16 teams battled it out for the T'owd Tin Pot, with York eventually losing out to Halifax in the final.

In 1883 the club moved to the Wigginton Road Cricket Ground of the Yorkshire Gentlemen and also amalgamated with York Melbourne Club. In 1884, they were asked to leave the ground due to financial problems and spoiling the playing surface. The club moved to Grange St (Fishergate).

In 1885, the club leased a plot of land from the York Lunatic Asylum at the end of the Clarence Street in 1885. The first game at the new site was between a York XV and 20 players from the city on 19 September 1885.

The club made great strides with the team of 1895, which won virtually all their home matches. Off the field the club paid £85 for the Waterman's Mission Hut in Fishergate and converted it into their first grandstand, incorporating dressing rooms. Previously players had changed, first at the Adelphi Hotel (later The Railway King) on George Hudson St and later at Shorts Baths (Clarence St).^[3]

Northern Union

Northern rugby clubs broke away from the Rugby Football Union to form the Northern Union in 1895. York initially stayed with the Rugby Football Union but as more clubs made the switch, it became a financial necessity to follow suit. The decision to join the Northern Union was taken at a meeting at the Bar Hotel, Micklegate, on Monday, 25 April 1898 and five days later they played their first Northern Union match, losing 29-2 against Hull Kingston Rovers in the Yorkshire Senior Competition.

In 1902, York were accepted into the new national championship Second Division, which was merged with the First Division three years later. They defeated the touring All Golds team in 1908.^[4] York was one of the new teams to join the second division. After the First World War, they became known as "the Dreadnoughts". They beat the visiting Australasian team of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain 9–3. York played touring teams on a number of occasions between 1908 and 1978. There were 8 games against Australia (one win and one draw) and 6 games against New Zealand (3 wins).^[5]

re  In the 1922/3 season, York beat Batley 5–0 in the Yorkshire Cup final held at Headingley before a giant crowd of 33,719.  In 1933, York beat Hull Kingston Rovers 10–4 in the Yorkshire Cup final held at Headingley. 10 February 1934, York's record attendance was set when 14,689 turned up to watch a Challenge Cup match against Swinton, which ended in a 0–0 draw.

1988-1995: Ryedale-York

York had planned to move to nearby Bootham Crescent after selling Clarenve Street but when talks with York City F.C. broke down they had no choice but to move further out of the city and play at the newly constructed Ryedale Stadium in Huntington. York agreed a deal with Ryedale District Council who owned the stadium which included the clubs name being changed to Ryedale-York. The first league game at the new stadium was on 8 October 1989 against Keighley.

In 1991, Ryedale-York and Fulham toured Russia, an act that caused many Russian rugby union clubs to switch to rugby league.

Ryedale-York were demoted to the Third Division in 1992 having finished seventh in the Second Division. The next year, they were back in the Second Division as the league returned to a two division structure with the bulk of Third Division sides joining the new Second Division.

With the advert of Super League, Ryedale-York conceived a plan with Gateshead Council in 1995 to relocate to Gateshead. Their last game of the 1994-95 season was an away game against Carlisle played in Gateshead.

Due to the switch to summer in 1996 the leagues were restructured and a new Third Division was created which Ryedale-York were placed in having finished the final summer season in the bottom half of the Second Division.

The relocation to Gateshead never materialised and due to a change in council boundaries, Huntington, was now a civil parish in the newly formed City of York. This lead to the club dripping Ryedale from their name and becoming York Wasps

1996-2002: Wasps and financial troubles

York were beaten by amateur side West Hull 10–6 in the Challenge Cup on Humberside on a frozen pitch, in the 1996 Challenge Cup. They became the first professional side to lose to an amateur club in the fourth round, and it was only the third time a minnow had triumphed against a giant in the event since the Second World War. Head coach Horton was sacked at the end of 1996 for alleged gross misconduct after the postponement of a friendly fixture at Hull.

Dean Robinson was appointed Coach for the 1997 season and the following season won Division 2, however the club were promoted anyway as the second and third tiers merged to create the Northern Ford Premiership, with York finishing 7th in the newly formatted division.

York won one game in the Northern Ford Premiership in 2000 and finished the campaign with a team of amateurs after almost folding. Due to financial difficulties and problems with training facilities coach Dean Robinson resigned in the early part of the season in March 2000. Caretaker coach Garry Atkins took over for three months and tried to manage the team with the club in grave difficulties.

Lee Crooks took over as coach in August 2000. They attracted sponsorship from the New York Economic Development Council for the 2001 season.^[7] This promised, but did not deliver, a bright future. Lee Crooks resigned and academy coach Martin Flynn took charge for the final Northern Ford Premiership home game.

In 2001, York made a failed attempt to buy London Broncos in a bid to get into [[Super League.^[8] Australian Leo Epifania came over to England to be head coach of York Wasps in September.

On 19 March 2002, after completing 11 games,^[9] York Wasps announced that they had folded. After a last-ditch take-over deal to save the Wasps collapses, the RFL accept the club's resignation on 26 March 2002.^[10] Less than a fortnight earlier, the club had defeated Chorley Lynx 34–22 to record their first victory in 13 months ending a run of 25 winless games.^[11]

Head coach, Leo Epifania quit England but York players continued to train with the idea of playing later in the season under unpaid caretaker-boss Stuart Horton. A supporters' trust working party was formed on 27 March 2002 and applied to the RFL to continue the 2002 Northern Ford Premiership fixtures. After hearing it would be impossible to meet requirements to return that season, on 5 May 2002 fans backed new proposals for a new club to apply for admittance to the league for 2003.

2002–2006: New club and promotion

The RFL accepted York's bid to play in the newly formed National League Two on condition that they had £75,000 in the bank by 31 August. The new club raised funds through a fans' membership scheme while former Great Britain star Paul Broadbent was appointed player-coach. With the total standing at £70,000, John Smith's brewery came in with £5,000 as the club hit the target just hours before the deadline.

The new club also adopted a new name, York City Knights, following a competition in The Evening Press.^[12] A new logo was also designed which was based on the New South Wales team's logo, while the clubs colours were changed from amber and black to blue and white. John Guildford, majority shareholder of York building firm Guildford Construction, became the majority shareholder. New York also continued to play home games at Huntington Stadium.

The Knights played their first game at home against Hull Kingston Rovers in the National League Cup on 19 January with a bumper crowd of 3,105. In their first year, the Knights finished fourth, making the National League Two play-offs only to lose 50–30 to Barrow Raiders.

Broadbent resigned as coach at the end of the season and was replaced by Richard Agar.^[13] They made it all the way to the Challenge Cup Quarter-final, losing 50–12 to Huddersfield Giants.^[14] The Knights built on their first season by making the Championship Cup semi finals, losing 32–0 to Hull Kingston Rovers, and finishing second in the league, and three points behind Barrow, the Knights entered the playoffs. They lost 37–20 in the qualifying semi final to Halifax and then beat Workington Town 70–10 to make the final where they were again beaten by Halifax 34–30. Agar left York to join Hull F.C. as an assistant coach.^[15]

York appointed Mick Cook as their new head coach in 2005 as part of a partnership with Super League club Leeds Rhinos.^[16] Cook's side made it to the 5th round of the Challenge Cup losing 62–0 to St. Helens at Knowsley Road. At the end of the season they were promoted as champions National League One for the first time. They had the highest crowd average for National League One teams, of 1,986. York's game against Hunslet on 25 May 2005 drew a crowd of 3,224 which at the time was a record for National League One.

York kicked off their first season in the second tier, losing 25–18 away at Widnes Vikings. They lost their first seven games before finally beating Oldham 62–0 and then again 15 days later, 54–10. Despite a good late run of form including wins over Whitehaven, Doncaster and Rochdale Hornets, York were relegated back to National League Two at the end of the season culminating in a 60–16 defeat to Leigh Centurions. York finished second bottom, above Oldham, three points from safety. They did however, win the Fairfax Cup, after beating Batley 14–10 in their first appearance in the York International 9s.^[17]

2007–2018: Lower leagues and closure threat

After suffering relegation the previous year, the club was hit with a record defeat in the Challenge Cup 5th round, losing 74–4 to Huddersfield Giants.^[18] Meanwhile, their return to the third tier resulted in two back to back sixth place finishes.

2009 saw more instability at the club with head coach March sacked in due to disciplinary matters and director of rugby James Ratcliffe taking over to guide the club to a third place finish and a semi final deafest to Oldham^[19]

The next season, Chris Thorman was appointed Radcliffe's assistant coach but became temporary head coach after Ratcliffe was suspended by the board. Ratcliffe returned for an away game at Doncaster while Dave Woods was brought in to become director of rugby in April 2010. Five games later, Ratcliffe was sacked after a 30–36 defeat to Swinton Lions and Woods was named as head coach. ^[20] Woods guided York to the Championship 1 Grand Final where they beat Oldham 25–6 and were promoted to the Championship for the first time in four years.^[21]

York managed to evade relegation in their first two seasons back in the second tier. They were saved in 2011, by a Barrow Raiders points deduction and Crusaders folding, the RFL paused relegation the following year due to a league restructure. Yorks luck ran out in 2013 as they finished bottom of the league for a second year in a row and were relegated back to the third tier.

York almost bounced straight back the following year, finishing top of Championship 1 only to be knocked out of the playoffs by Hunslet Hawks which resulted in head coach Gary Thornton being sacked and replaced by James Ford.

There was more turbulence for the Knights ahead of the 2015 season. The club had moved out of Huntington Stadium as it was to be demolished to make way for a new stadium for both the Knights and York City F.C.. However, the rugby clubs involvement was plunged into doubt after the relationship with chairman John Guildford and the City of York Council broke down. This resulted in York becoming homeless and Guildford stepping down as chairman.^{[22] [23]}

York mainly played away games for the first half of the 2015 season with their few home games being played at York RUFCs Clifton Park and Featherstone Rovers Post Office Road. By June, the club had struck a deal with local amateur side Heworth to play their remaining home games at Elm Park Way.^[24] Despite their lack of a home, York finished fourth and made the playoff semi finals were they lost to Swinton Lions 17–16 in Golden Point^[25]

A deal with York City F.C. was made that saw the Knights move to Bootham Crescent in 2016. However the clubs future was put into doubt after disputes between the club and the council, with directors announcing that the club would be wound as soon as all necessary legal steps had been taken.^[26][27][28] The following day a joint statement from the club, the RFL and the city council was issued stating "We continue to work to resolve this situation and are hopeful that ways can be found for James Ford and his players to be able to fulfil the remainder of their fixtures this season."^[29] On 25 July the club owner, John Guildford, announced that he was in negotiation with local businessman, Gary Dickenson, and that the sale would be of a club "virtually debt-free" enabling the Knights to continue to run.^[30] However on 23 August Dickenson pulled the negotiations.^[31] Following the collapse of the sale to Dickenson, Guildford put the club up for sale to any interested buyer.^[32]

The RFL issued a deadline of 1 December 2016 for ownership issues to be resolved and late on 1 December the club issued a statement that ownership of the Knights had passed entirely to a consortium headed by Jon Flatman.^[33] The following day the RFL confirmed that the team would be re-instated into League 1 for the 2017 season.^[34] In January 2017, the Knights agreed a new deal with York City to play at Bootham Crescent.^[35] Ahead of the new season, the club also changed their colours back to the more traditional amber and black.^[36]

2018–present: New stadium and Super League

In April 2018, York beat a 24 year old world record by beating West Wales Raiders 144–0 at home.^[37] In the away fixture they almost beat the new record but only put 130 points past West Wales. The Knights ended up finishing top of the table and were promoted to the Championship.^[38] York had their best performance in the second tier for decades as they finished third, losing in the playoff elimination semi final to fifth placed Featherstone Rovers.

After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, York began their 2021 campaign in the new York Community Stadium. Unable to build on their pre covid form they finished outside the playoffs in 9th before two consecutive sixth placed finishes in 2022, the same year they suffered a club recorded 100-4 defeat to Leigh Centurions, and 2023. ^{[39] [40]}

At the end of the 2022 season the club announced major changes. The club would become York RLFC with the men’s team dropping City from their name (becoming just York Knights) while the women’s team became known as York Valkyrie.

A fourth placed finish and semi final loss to Wakefield Trinity in 2024 was built on in 2025 when they finished as League Leaders and made the Grand Final, losing 10-8 to second place Toulouse Olympique.^[41][42]

York benefitted from Super Leagues expansion to 14 teams when they finished 14th in the IMG gradings meaning they would play in the top flight in 2026 for the first time since 1986.^[43] Girls first Super League game was a 19-18 home win over champions Hull Kingston Rovers.^[44]

Identity

In 2002, following the demise of York Wasps, the newly established York club sought a new beginning with a new identity that left behind the difficulties associated with the previous club. The team adopted a blue and white kit rather than the traditional amber and black colours and competitions were held in the local newspaper, The Evening Press, first to choose a new name, York City Knights RLFC, and then to design a club logo.^[12][46] A club mascot, Norris the Knight, was introduced making his first public appearance in December 2003^[47][48] and taking part in the Mascot Grand National in 2006.^[49]

In the 2016 season, with the Knights sharing a ground with York City F.C., they launched an away kit in blue and red; the colours of the football club and proposed colour scheme of the future community stadium.^[50] However, the club changed ownership in December 2016 and the following month it was announced that both the home and away kits would change to the amber and black historically associated with rugby league in York,^[36] and which had previously been used for heritage and away kits.^[46][51] The club badge initially remained blue and white, but this too would change colour the following year when the 2018 kit launched featuring a new logo that commemorated the 150th anniversary of the original York club.^[36][52]

On 14 October 2022, the club announced that it had changed its name to York RLFC as an umbrella term with the men's team continued to be known as the Knights. The women's team became the Valkyrie. Both teams introduced new logos as part of the rebrand.^[53]

Kit sponsors and manufacturers

Stadiums

1885-1989: Clarence Street

1989–2014: Huntington Stadium

The Knights played their first game at Huntington Stadium on 19 January 2003.^[67] It had previously been the home ground of York Wasps until they were dissolved in 2002.^[68] The capacity was 3,428^[69] and the stadium also had an athletics track.^[70] The Knights left the stadium at the end of the 2014 season^[71] and it was later demolished to allow for the building of York Community Stadium which is on the same site.^[68][72]

Huntington Stadium's record attendance for a rugby league match was set on 5 January 1990 when 4,977 turned up to watch a Division Two match against Halifax.

2015: Elmpark Way

The Knights were left homeless and were forced to ground share with local amateur team Heworth A.R.L.F.C. for a season until they could find a permanent home.^[73]

2016–2020: Bootham Crescent

In 2016 the Knights began ground sharing with York City F.C. at Bootham Crescent.^[71] The Crescent had a capacity of 8,256 with 3,409 seats and the remaining capacity was standing.

2021: York Community Stadium

In March 2021 the knights played their first match at York Community Stadium in a pre-season game against Hull F.C. The stadium has a capacity of 8,500.^[74]

Honours

League

• Championship

  Winners (1): 1980-81

  Runners up (1): 2025

  League Leaders (1): 2025

• League One:

  Winners (2): 2005,^[75] 2018^[76]

  Runners up (1): 2004

  League Leaders (2): 2014,^[77] 2018^[76]

  • League One Play Off Final:

  Winners (1): 2010

Cups

• RFL 1895 Cup:

  Winners (1): 2025^[78]

  Runners up (1): 2021^[79]

• League 1 Cup:

  Runners up (1): 2016^[80]