York City Knights have been left in disarray after being told they can not play their first game of the Super 8s at Bootham Crescent.
The League One club have a deal in place with the local council to play their fixtures at the ground, which is also used by football club York City. However, the council now claim that they warned the Knights they would be unable to play at the ground on July 24th.
An agreement has always been in place that the part-time outfit must host their games at least 24 hours after their football counterparts play at the ground. The Minstermen play a friendly on Saturday at 1:30, with the Knights making suitable arrangements and moving their kick-off for the weekend’s game against Doncaster to 3:30.
However, the game may now not even take place, with the worst case scenario being that York cannot fulfil their fixtures and must withdraw from the league.
A City of York Council spokesperson told the York Press: “City of York Council has agreements with York City and York City Knights relating to the use of Bootham Crescent.
“This use is subject to certain conditions, including whether a football match has taken place the day before and the impact on the playing surface.
“It’s regrettable the Knights can not play at Bootham this weekend. However, they were first informed this would be the case at the beginning of May, well before any (Super 8s) fixtures had been finalised. This was subsequently confirmed on several occasions during June and July.”
The news has angered people within the York community.
What an absolute farce. @CityofYork are making this a right kerfuffle. Shame. https://t.co/MQ3E0gdAWM
— Dan (@Dan_Crampton) July 18, 2016
What a diabolical let down.. Surely “meaningful” games take priority over friendlies.? @YorkKnightsRLFC @yorkcityfc https://t.co/exRjEhIQ5V
— shaun collinge (@maltingsyork) July 18, 2016
@YorkKnightsRLFC it’s a sham the whole situation. Seems to be a hate mob against our owner. It’s utterly utterly disgraceful.
— Yck fans (@YckFans) July 18, 2016
The club later tweeted: “Rest assured we will do EVERYTHING possible to save our season to ensure the immense hard work put in over the last 7 months is not wasted!”
York are currently third in League One.