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 Challenge 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 (Bootham) 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).[1]
Northern Union
Northern rugby teams broke away from the Rugby Football Union to form their own Northern Union in 1895. York initially stayed with the Rugby Football Union but as more and more clubs began to join the new order, 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 against Hull Kingston Rovers losing 29–2.
The York club was first admitted to the Rugby Football League in 1901. In 1902/03 the Lancashire and Yorkshire leagues were combined to form a second division. They defeated the touring All Golds team in 1908.[2] 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).[3]
Arguably York's best moment came in 1931 when they reached the Challenge Cup Final for the first time, only to be beaten 22–8 by Halifax. York had finished as the top Yorkshire club in 1932–33 for the first time and fourth in the league to qualify for the Championship play-offs but were beaten by Swinton. 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.
York again made the final of the Yorkshire Cup in 1935 but were beaten by Leeds 3–0 at Thrum Hall, Halifax but were back the next year this time beating Wakefield Trinity 9–2 in a final held at Headingley. They also lost the 1978 final to Bradford Northern by 18–8.
Bill Kirkbride became coach in 1980. York team lifted the Division Two title in 1980–81, beating Hunslet 53–7 to guarantee themselves the title with two games to spare, finishing above big-guns Wigan and newly formed Fulham.[4] Kirkbride left in 1982. Immediate relegation was followed by promotion in 1985.
Financial problems forced the club to sell their training pitch (behind The Popular Stand) for £200,000 in 1986. Three years later faced with a large bill for safety work, the rest of the stadium was sold to a housing developer for £705,000, less than half what the ground was worth. On 26 March 1989 York's last match at Clarence Street produced a 26–17 victory over Hunslet in front of a crowd of 2,904 spectators.
Ryedale-York
Gary Stephens became coach in 1988. When plans to ground share with York City F.C. broke down, York moved to the newly constructed Ryedale Stadium two miles to the north of the city at Huntington in Ryedale district. As the stadium was financed by Ryedale District Council the club became known as Ryedale-York. The first league game at the new stadium was on 8 October 1989 against Keighley. Ryedale 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.
In 1991, Ryedale-York and Fulham toured Russia, an act that caused many Russian rugby union clubs to switch to rugby league. Stephens left as coach.
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.
Stuart Horton took over the coaching reins from Roger Millward in January 1995. Ryedale-York conceived a 'Super League plan' with Gateshead Council in 1995 with the intention of moving to Gateshead. The club's last game as Ryedale-York took place in April, an away game against Carlisle that was played in Gateshead. The relocation never came to pass and owing to a change in local council boundaries, Huntington, was now a civil parish in the newly formed unitary authority of the City of York. The newly renamed York Wasps playing at the Huntington stadium were confirmed as being in the Second Division which was now the third tier of rugby league, on 30 April.
York Wasps
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. 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 with York Wasps in Division 2. In Season 1998 York won promotion under Robinson into Division 1. However in 1999 both divisions were brought together as 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.[5] 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.
York made an unsuccessful approach to buy the London Broncos in August 2001 and form a merged club under a new name, York Wasps Ltd, to play in Super League.[6] Australian Leo Epifania came over to England to be head coach of York Wasps in September.
On 19 March 2002, after completing 11 games,[7] 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.[8] Ironically the plug was pulled less than a fortnight after the club's first win in 13 months.
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, and a new club, York City Knights, was subsequently established.