WORRIED York athletes are taking legal advice amid fears they will be booted out of Huntington Stadium and made homeless.

Nestl Rowntree Athletics Club, who helped pay for the track when it was opened in 1989, are seeking legal advice about ownership of the track which is under threat from York City FC's proposed move to the stadium.

City are set to move from Bootham Crescent for the 2004-05 season and plans are in the pipeline to share Huntington Stadium with York City Knights RLFC, who also play there.

And under the proposed £3million redevelopment to bring the ground up to Football League standards, the track - the only public all-weather track in North Yorkshire - could be ripped up.

City of York Council's assistant director of education and leisure, Charlie Croft, said the track was an important facility and, if such a multi-purpose stadium could work, then it would be 'better financially' to keep the athletics there. If not, then the track would be relocated.

He added that preliminary talks about possible new athletics locations had begun.

Nevertheless, NRAC chairman Gordon Priestley said it would cost £50-60,000 to maintain the track for the next five to ten years, but it would cost more than £1million to build a new one.

He questioned where the money would come from and was unhappy that NRAC were not considered in the consultation form issued by York City yesterday to ask what fans wanted of the redeveloped ground.

"Everyone thinks we will just leave... but we're keen not to be rolled over and to make sure our rights are respected," he said."We paid towards the track, we use it and I think we should have first call on it. We are looking at our legal position as far as ownership of the track is concerned."

More than 250 junior NRAC members and 100 adults train at the track twice weekly, while Acorn Running Club and schools also use the facilities. In addition various competitions are staged there.

NRAC vice-chairman Ian Wilcock said if the track was to be relocated he could not see how the work could be done given the time-scales involved.

"It is good the council is considering us but I can't see how they can do it in the time they've got available," he said.

"They've got a year and a half to develop Huntington Stadium to Football League standards and also build a new track and the two things cannot be done concurrently. The new track would have to be there before the track at Huntington Stadium is demolished, otherwise there would be no facility for us at that time."

He said redevelopment work would probably have to begin by this September to be ready for the 2004-05 season, and added: "I know the council has said the plans have to include provision for us but I don't know how they can provide an alternative athletics facility by September."

He added: "Ideally we would like to stay at Huntington Stadium but how that fits in with the football club I don't know. I don't see how we can both get what we want and we're worried we might be out-muscled by the football club and forgotten in the fall-out.

"Nobody has said we're going to be kicked out with nowhere to go but we're looking at a worst case scenario and trying to make sure it does not happen.

"Maybe a lot of people don't appreciate what we do as we don't get the publicity and we're not as high profile as the football club or rugby club.

"I can understand why football fans would not want the track but at the moment it looks like we're going to suffer through no fault of our own."

Oaklands School, which has community sports status, has been mooted as a possible site for the track, but provision of space may be a problem there.

Updated: 11:54 Wednesday, April 02, 2003