York City Knights and York City are set to go head to head when the rugby league club kick-off their new season in February.

The Knights will begin their 2006 campaign at home to National League One giants Hull Kingston Rovers in a Northern Rail Cup fixture at 3pm on February 12 - as unveiled in the Evening Press yesterday.

But the Minstermen have previously arranged to play their home Nationwide Conference game against Aldershot on that same Sunday with a 2pm kick-off.

As it stands, the two fixtures - both due to kick off within an hour of each other - seem unlikely to change, though discussions between the clubs may now take place to work out a solution.

Knights chief executive John Guildford recognised the problem of a fixture clash but reckoned the advantages of having the big kick-off at home to a side like Hull KR outweighed the trouble - exacerbated by the fact the Knights don't own their own ground - of rearranging the fixture.

"We did not want to miss the opportunity of a big home game at the start of the new season," he said.

"It might be something we need to discuss (with the football club) to save any detriment to either of us."

In each of the last few years, City have set aside two weekends for Sunday 'family' games to see whether it would improve attendances and also give fans unable to get to games on Saturdays a chance to watch the KitKat Crescent action.

The choice of February 12 was made at the start of the football season this summer, long before the Knights' 2006 start date was known.

City finance director Terry Doyle said: "As a football club, we are committed to finding two dates for Sunday 'family' matches every season, as we feel they are very important. We then have to find opponents who are willing to make the switch and Aldershot were one of a handful of clubs who were.

"The date for the game has been known for a long time and has been heavily publicised and advertised so it is something we will need to discuss with the rugby club."

City have a second Sunday match scheduled for April 9 against Kidderminster Harriers but there will be no clash with the Knights this time as the rugby club are at Widnes Vikings in their first game of their Division One league campaign.

Updated: 10:48 Thursday, December 01, 2005