York City finance director Terry Doyle welcomed the success of the one-off opportunity to host a rugby league game at Bootham Crescent on Wednesday night but warned against any "crescendo" of support for a future groundsharing arrangement between the city's two biggest sports clubs.

Doyle, who attended York City Knights' 54-26 victory over Gateshead Thunder, pointed out that the club would be ready to stage rugby matches on a similar basis in the future but the two teams are not currently considering sharing home venues on a permanent basis.

He said: "There were 1,500 fans at the match and they created a good atmosphere. I think both clubs felt it worked very well but that should not build into a crescendo of rumours that the rugby club are moving in with us.

"It was a good one-off opportunity to promote relations and friendships between both clubs and I'm absolutely certain that we would be open to more one-off opportunities in the future."

City are believed to have received a down-payment of money as a rental fee for the match rather than any percentage of gate receipts and Many supporters of sport in York will also be hoping that Sunday's clash of fixtures in the city between the two clubs will also prove a one-off occasion. City entertain Macclesfield, while the Knights play host to Dewsbury, both kicking off at 3pm.

Explaining the reason for the games coinciding, Doyle said: "At the beginning of the season we took a decision that we wanted two Sunday games as, in the past, they have been successful and they do allow people to get to games that could not do otherwise. We looked carefully at the fixtures list to avoid any potential clash with the rugby team.

"We published this date back in June and did speak to the rugby club to indicate that. When we were aware there was a clash we contacted them to see if they were able to move their game.

"Their view was that they could not switch their game and they were happy to accept the clash. We have demonstrated that we will try very hard to help the rugby club as was demonstrated with Wednesday night's game."

The Knights' unexpected success in the Challenge Cup plus the need to complete their Arriva Trains Cup group fixtures by Good Friday, meanwhile, prevented them from moving their fixture with Dewsbury.

They had considered switching that game to tonight, but the fact they reached the quarter-finals of the Cup meant they would have faced three games in six days; Huddersfield in the Cup on Sunday, Gateshead on Wednesday (in a game rearranged from the Sunday), and Dewsbury on Friday.

Chairman Roger Dixon explained: "It was not possible to change bearing in mind the fixture congestion as a result of our success in the Challenge Cup.

"We have to get the Dewsbury game played before Easter to fit in with the Arriva Trains Cup group stage schedule and the thought of part-time players playing three games in five or six days was too much to ask."

He added: "We canvassed with City as soon as a clash emerged but it unfortunately became inevitable, although it was not through a lack of will."

Updated: 11:13 Friday, April 02, 2004