SCHOOLS in York are launching a ten-a-side rugby league tournament to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee as a curtain-raiser to the official York Golden Jubilee Rugby League Festival on June 3.

Five City of York Council schools are already signed up to the primary school tournament, which will take place on Saturday, May 25 - just over a week before the official international event for adult teams at Heworth ARLFC.

The schools' competition semi-finals and finals will take place during the nine-a-side event on the Bank Holiday Monday and they will even be competing for a special cup.

The full-contact schools tournament will be for eight to 12 York-based primary schools, including Ralph Butterfield, Yearsley Grove, Bishopthorpe, Dunnington and St Aelred's, who have definitely signed up.

The tournament will be staged at New Earswick Sports and Social Club on May 25 with two groups of teams competing on a round-robin basis. The two teams from each group will progress to semi-finals and final on June 3, which are likely to be played before the final stages of the international competition.

Rugby League giants Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos are already backing the schools' tournament with players promised for pre-competition coaching sessions.

Russell Walton, chairman of the junior section at New Earswick All Blacks RLFC and schools' tournament organiser, said: "Junior rugby league is booming in York and this is a great opportunity to raise the profile of it throughout York.

"It will bring schools' rugby league to a wider audience, thus enthusing other juniors and their parents to take part by making contact with local clubs.

"Doing this in conjunction with such a major international event is the perfect opportunity to showcase the junior game.

"I'm hoping that more schools will get involved - there is so much for their pupils to get out of the tournament and coaching is available free of charge.

"All of the children I have spoken to are extremely excited about the tournament and the involvement of Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls has upped the tempo another notch."

The main nine-a-side festival, backed by the Rugby Football League, features 16 teams from Ireland, the UK and France, including a York select squad called the Ironsides.

The event has an English Civil War theme and 15 teams will join the Ironsides to compete for the Fairfax Cup, a trophy named after the Roundhead commander Lord Fairfax, who petitioned King Charles I at Heworth 360 years ago.

In keeping with the Civil War theme, the teams competing in the schools competition will be bidding to win the Marston Moor Cup.

Festival organiser and former London Broncos chief executive Lionel Hurst said: "I think it's wonderful that we are getting two rugby festivals in York almost within the same week. There is clearly a great deal of enthusiasm at grass roots level - in the schools and local clubs for this sport and I'm delighted to back this schools event."

Updated: 13:29 Wednesday, April 10, 2002