York City Knights - From Basket Case to Blueprint

What a difference five years makes! In summer 2016, York City Knights were languishing in League 1. A dispute between the then-owner and local council arose and before long York announced steps would be taken to wind up the club.

All hope seemed lost as the fixtures for the 2017 League 1 season were announced. York's name was absent from the list. The club were set not to participate in the following season. It appeared that professional rugby league in York was about to die after 116 years.

If you would have told York's few hundred loyal attending fans that under five years later they would be about to face Wigan in their new community stadium and had realistic ambitions of promotion to Super League, you would have been laughed at. 

Fast forward five years and that once laughable vision now looks realistic. But how did York go from basket case to blueprint?

The start of this journey begun on 1 December 2016. Jon Flatman headed up a consortium that took over the struggling York. The takeover allowed York to be re-admitted to League 1 for 2017 and the fixture schedule was promptly redrawn.

Flatman wasted little time in stamping his authority, quickly tying down young coach James Ford to a new contract, a move which proved to be prudent. Ford remains at the helm to this day.

York have made a number of shrewd moves under Flatman's ownership, one of the early moves was a semantic one, reverting to the club's traditional amber and black colours. It may seem inconsequential, but tradition and branding matters. This arguably quite simple move was a sign that Flatman 'got' York. 

Saying that, nobody cares what colours you are wearing compared to how you fare on the field. They secured a fourth placed finish in the first year of the Flatman era, but were eliminated from the play offs by Whitehaven. An unprecedented 26 minutes of extra time saw a golden point drop goal end York's season in the most heartbreaking of manners. 

In the cold light of day, going from the precipice of extinction to the brink of promotion in less than 12 months was quite the achievement. 

And it got better. York's improvement was brought to wider attention following a home Challenge Cup match against Catalans Dragons in 2018. York were edged out by Catalans by 34-22, but the tournament's eventual winners were pushed hard by their part-time opponents. York had now gone from near extinction to an ability to challenge established Super League clubs.

Usually, a home tie with a Super League club where a League 1 side pushes the favourites all the way would be a season highlight. Not for York. This honour was saved for York's final match of the season, where they cruised to a 32-14 victory against Whitehaven to secure automatic promotion before 3,223 fans.

York's 2018 season finished against Whitehaven, just as it had done in 2017. This time, the heartbreak was replaced with joy. York were returning to the Championship for the first time since 2013.

When a side is promoted, the usual aim is to avoid relegation the next season, especially after a lengthy absence from the league above. If you manage that, you look to consolidate the next year. Then build the year after.

York ripped up the rule book. A common theme in the modern history of the Knights. 2019 saw an impressive third place finish. York correctly point out on their website that they were the highest-ranking part time team in the UK that year. Not bad for a club that by any measure should still be rebuilding from destitution.

York's play off charge ended promptly though, with Featherstone dumping the Knights out at the first hurdle. York would have been disappointed with the end to the season, losing out in the Championship play offs. To the objective eye, the fact that this was a disappointment was a sign of progression and a demonstration of how far the club had come.

In 2020, the Championship season was brought to a very early halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, in Super League, Toronto withdrew from the competition and their plea for re-entry rejected. This led to a vacant place for an ambitious club.

York believed that they fitted the bill. After the ultimate expansion venture in Toronto came crashing down, York pitched their bid with the clever tagline of 'heartland expansion'. It tapped into a truism. Rugby league is a northern sport, but in large parts of northern England, there are communities that know little or nothing of the sport. 

It spoke to a pragmatic audience, one that wishes to see the game expand, but one that knows we should walk before we can run.

At the centre of the bid was York's new stadium. A stunning 8,000 capacity community stadium shared with the city's football team. A stadium that would be suited to the top flight of any professional sport. This was supplemented by an impressive recruitment drive, including the signatures of Ben Jones-Bishop, Ryan Atkins and Adam Cuthbertson, three players who have experience at the very peak of the British game.

Whilst the bid for Super League was rejected, it was a sign of York's ambition, firstly, that the bid was made at all and, moreover, that the notion of York being in Super League was no longer a pipe dream but a realistic possibility.

The last five years have brought York a scarcely believable upturn. York are clearly not a club afraid of a challenge. So when they were drawn against Wigan in round 3 of the 2021 Challenge Cup, fear and resignation would not be the overriding emotions, but hope and opportunity. 

York want to test themselves against the likes of Wigan on a regular basis. Friday night's Challenge Cup tie will offer them a taster. Wigan coach Adrian Lam has indicated that he will play his strongest possible team, knowing that underestimating his opponents may prove perilous.

The only disappointment? Government-imposed lockdown restrictions mean that the game will not be played before an 8,000 capacity crowd, but before nobody, save for a YouTube audience.

Wigan are one of the biggest clubs in the game and topped Super League last year. If York were to win this match, it would be one of the biggest upsets in modern cup history. Realistically, Wigan will win and there is little shame in succumbing to Wigan, as even the best teams can do.

But this game is just one part of the jigsaw. York do not want occasions like this to be a one-off cup tie. They want the biggest names at their stadium in years to come on a regular basis and with time, to become one of the big names in their own right. 

York's ambitious but sustainable approach gives them the best chance of ensuring that these dreams will one day become reality. Friday night's cup tie is just the next chapter and is one not to be missed.

York's Challenge Cup Round 3 clash with Wigan will take place on Friday 9 April at 7:45PM via The Sportsman's social media channels (links below):

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