York Wasps

The York Wasps (known simply as York from 1868 to 1989, Ryedale-York from 1989 to 1996 and York Wasps from 1996 to 2002) was an English professional

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

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 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

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

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.

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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 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.

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.

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,

Launched in 2013, the following players have been inducted into the York Rugby League Hall of Fame. To be considered for inclusion, a player must have spent at least four seasons at the club, and be retired for more than five years.[10]^[11]

Launched in 2015, the following were original inductees of the York Rugby League Legends roster.^[12]

Also see Category:York Wasps coaches

• Division 2 / Championship: 1
  • 1980–81^[15]
• Yorkshire County Cup: 3
  • 1922–23, 1933–34, 1936–37

Match records

• Points: 30 by Jamie Benn v Oldham, 1999^[16]
• Tries: 7 by Brad Davis v Highfield 17 September 1995^[16]
• Goals: 13 by Jamie Benn v Oldham, 1999^[16]

Season records

• Tries: 35 by
  John Crossley, Jr.
  , 1980–81

Biggest Win

• 84–0 against Nottingham City, 1992^[16]

Highest score against

• 98–0 at Rochdale Hornets, 8 April 2001

Biggest defeat

• 98–0 at Rochdale Hornets, 8 April 2001

Highest home attendances

• Clarence Street: 14,689 v Swinton (Challenge Cup), 10 February 1934.
• Huntington Stadium: 4,977 v Halifax (Division 2), 5 January 1990 – Then Ryedale Stadium.