IF the maxim for a successful business is try, try and try again then York City Knights Rugby League Football Club is bound to be a winner in more ways than one.

The Knights have entered the Small Business of the Year category in the 2004 Evening Press Business of the Year and why not?

Following the demise of York Wasps, there was a need for a vibrant and financially viable professional rugby league team in York.

It took real business know how and footwork to get the backing from local businesses and the sporting community to reach the £75,000 target needed by the Rugby Football League to prove financial viability. Since then the organisation has grown into four full-time employees and 50 part-time, using Huntington Stadium in Kathryn Avenue.

It also posted healthy first year profits and put structures in place that were the envy of many other clubs and businesses.

The work carried out by Leanne Cooper, admin organiser, Rosalind Buckley, media manager, Jason Ranshaw, community development officer for York and, more recently, Ian Wilson, community development officer for North Yorkshire plus part-time sponsorship manager Katie Bibby who laid the strong financial platform for the team's success on the pitch.

Peter Salter, newly-appointed commercial manager, has also given the Knights a boost.

The squad and coach assembled in just three months before the start of the 2003 season immediately proved the point, by earning the Knights the prestigious National League Club of the Year by other national league clubs at the end of their inaugural season in which they finished a highly creditable fourth.

With more than 3,100 fans turning up to see the Knights' first game against Hull Kingston Rovers, the club has maintained its popularity, with the highest average attendance of all National League Two clubs, averaging 1,637 this year.

Updated: 12:08 Tuesday, August 17, 2004