One big family

And the build-up to the event has already begun in earnest, with Knights stars going into several York primary schools to encourage youngsters to catch Knights fever.

The event takes place on Sunday, May 23, the day the team take on Gateshead Thunder in an LHF Healthplan National League Two encounter.

The match itself kicks off at 3pm, with the fun beginning about an hour earlier.

Four schools teams will play in two curtain-raising matches out on the pitch, while off the pitch there will be a bouncy castle, face-painting, games, prizes including a signed Knights shirt, and all sorts of activities for the kids.

Knights development officer Jason Ramshaw, along with popular mascot Norris The Knight and players Chris Langley, Damian Ball and Aaron Wood, have been attending primary schools across York to plug the fun day.

"We've been going into more than 20 primary schools over the course of last week and this week, doing assemblies and handing out certificates from the recent tag festival," said Ramshaw.

"We're trying to get a really good family fun atmosphere down there and hope lots of youngsters come along."

As an incentive to get schools involved, the Knights are putting up for grabs a brand new school sports kit for the school which encourages the most youngsters to go down to Huntington Stadium on the day.

THE Evening Press in conjunction with the Knights has no fewer than five family tickets to give away for the upcoming Family Fun Day a week tomorrow.

The family tickets comprise free admission to the event (details above) - including admission to the Knights' match against Gateshead - for two adults and two children.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one is answer the following question...

What is the first name of the Knights' mascot?

Answers must be written on a postcard, along with your name, address and daytime contact number, and sent to Jason Ramshaw, York City Knights office, Huntington Stadium, Kathryn Avenue, Huntington, York, YO32 9JS.

The deadline for answers is noon on Thursday, May 20. All usual competition rules apply.

HOW about this for an advert for Mars bars helping you work, rest and play.

At half-time of last week's game at Barrow, Knights ace Scott Walker was apparently feeling rather unwell and was doubtful for the second half.

Physio Paul O'Connor took a quick look at him, diagnosed the problem and said a Mars bar was the quickest cure.

Kitman Bomber duly ran off to the snack bar, bought the Mars and gave it to the flying winger, who wolfed it down and ran out for the second half. And would you believe it, within about five minutes Walker scored a try.

Said Bomber: "That Mars bar cost me 40p and he still hasn't paid me back, the tight git.

"I reckon we should issue a Mars bar to every player at half-time every week - as long as they pay me up front."

TOP marks to the victors in the players' quiz on the journey up to Barrow last week.

The set of smart alecs (for want of a better phrase) comprised none other than Mark Cain, Craig Forsyth, Mark Stewart and team leader (at least that's what he called himself) Stephen Harris, aka Bomber the kitman.

Coach Richard Agar was the resident Bamber Gasgoyne setting 20 questions, with Bomber's quartet finishing top of the class by just a single point with a grand total of 41.

Bomber exclaimed: "It's not the taking part, but the winning that counts."

The Knights will hold a bucket collection for London Broncos youngster Matt King, who was paralysed from the neck down in an horrific accident while playing in an Academy game.

There was to be a bucket collection for the teenager at today's Powergen Challenge Cup final between St Helens and Wigan, and each professional club has been asked by the Rugby Football League to do likewise at a home game to help boost the Matt King Appeal.

The Knights' bucket collection will take place during the game against Gateshead at Huntington Stadium a week tomorrow.

Anyone who can assist with this is asked to contact the club office on 01904 656105.

Knights meet junior Ironsides

THE Knights welcomed potential future stars to Huntington Stadium this week when the Junior York Ironsides attended a training session.

The under-11s Ironsides squad are to take on fellow representative teams from Castleford, Bradford and Leeds as part of the forthcoming York International 9s festival to be staged at Heworth's Elm Park Way base.

And they got a taste of the professional life when they met the Knights players at Huntington Stadium and watched them being put through their paces in training. The youngsters are also set to benefit from a coaching session by the Knights in the run-up to the York 9s.

The young Ironsides squad, coached by Mark Johnson and Barry Davis and managed by Neil Gulliver, is made up of players from all the York and District clubs that have teams in that age group, namely New Earswick All Blacks, York Acorn and Selby Warriors. There are 24 players in the train-on squad, which is to be whittled down to 15 for the competition itself.

Gulliver said: "I'm really pleased we've managed to get players from all the clubs in the York area that run teams at the relevant age group. We're really pleased with the attitude of all the kids and we're looking forward to the tournament."

The York 9s takes place on the weekend of June 26-27, with the Junior Ironsides playing in a round-robin competition on the Sunday, the top two teams going on to contest the final.

Friendly fire fillip

AUSSIE swashbuckler Simon Friend has fallen away recently in the Evening Press/Collier Plant Hire player-of-the-year stakes, but he bounced back into contention following his man-of-the-match display at Barrow last week.

Friend, player of the month for March, was awarded three player-of-the-year points and thus moved up to 13, one point behind last week's leader, Scott Rhodes.

However, Lee Jackson, who was pipped for the top award last week, still collected two points for being deemed the second-best player and these moved him to the top of the pile, one ahead of Rhodes.

The remaining point went to Mark Cain for his influential performance off the bench.

The fans' vote for the bonus point was anything but clear-cut, reflecting the fact that pretty much everyone in the team played well in the 30-16 win. In fact, no fewer than seven players shared top spot among the fans and therefore all seven get an extra point. They were Friend, Jackson, Danny Brough, Scott Rhodes, Scott Walker, Chris Langley and Craig Forsyth.

Latest standings: Jackson 16pts, Rhodes 15, Friend 14, Callaghan 13, Ball 11, Brough 11, Graham 7, Elston 7, Forsyth 6, Godfrey 5, Stewart 5, Langley 4, Cain 3, Sozi 3, Briggs 2, J Smith 2, Wood 1, Hayes 1, Andrews 1, Walker 1.

The Knights Supporters' Club are holding a video night in the Huntington Stadium bar on Thursday, May 27 showing last week's away win at Barrow on a big screen. Kick off is at 7.30pm.

Admission is free but a raffle will be taking place. The players are likely to be in attendance for a short while after training.

Updated: 10:29 Saturday, May 15, 2004