THE chaps in the York City Knights community development team have been busy on and off the field recently.

On top of their usual work, they are getting geared up for their Knights Holiday Club during the school holidays, and they have launched a new website promoting the Knights Foundation charity and the work it does in the community.

The Knights are running two ‘Schools Out!’ clubs over the summer, with first team stars Chris Thorman, the former England captain, and York-born Jack Stearman among the coaching team. Each holiday club – basically a multi-sport programme encouraging children to stay active over the summer – will run for three consecutive days and each is based at Heworth ARLC. The dates are August 3, 4 and 5; and August 24, 25 and 26.

The price for children who book for all three days is £30 which the Knights believe make it one of the cheapest holiday clubs in York. That price also includes a free gift. The daily price, meanwhile, is £12 per day.

Adam Prentis, the Knights community development manager, said: “Over summer holidays it’s quite easy for children to sit in front of the television. The holiday club is a chance to have fun, have some exercise and make new friends.

“It is also a great opportunity to meet Chris Thorman and Jack Stearman, both Knights players with very different backgrounds. “Chris has many years of experience playing in Super League and captaining England, while Jack is a local lad who went to school in York and is a product of New Earswick All Blacks ARLC.”

To book a place, phone the Knights office on 01904 641724 or visit the new Knights Foundation website, which is currently found at http://yckfoundation.weebly.com.

Talking of that website, it’s probably of interest for all Knights supporters, followers and sponsors, as well as anyone – children, parents, teachers, councillors, etc – interested in seeing what kind of work the club’s community department does through the foundation.

The site highlights the efforts of the likes of Stearman, Thorman and Prentis, and it also informs readers of their upcoming events.

It also links in with the ‘Get Active’ programme – a six-week educational programme offered to all schools in York, combining the benefits of healthy eating with physical exercise – that the Knights run in partnership with City of York Council, and it allows youngsters involved with this programme to find more information and relevant worksheets.

The site also provides links and information about all the local amateur rugby league clubs in North Yorkshire, as well as the York Ladies outfit.

It is hoped the website will help to attract potential new sponsorship to support the foundation and therefore the Knights’ community department and the work it does across the area.

Format needs to be dressed to the nines

the Northern Rail 9s proved a good day out last week – although the new format could probably do with being altered.

Holding the tournament over one day rather than two like in the inaugural event last year cut down considerably on costs, and condensing the action perhaps helped to maintain focus for players and fans alike.

However, the idea to have groups but then compile all the group game results into one composite table is not the fairest way to do things, plus it is unnecessarily complicated – not unlike the present system for the Northern Rail Cup.

Firstly, it means teams can win every match yet not go through to the knockout stages, which is the fate that befell Hunslet and, even more controversially, Leigh, last week. (As revealed on thepress.co.uk, Keighley went through instead of Leigh by virtue of having scored more tries after their points-difference was equal, after Keighley’s last-game win over York was officially recorded as 28-14 rather than 26-14, which was the scoreline recorded by spectators including The Press.) Secondly, it means the luck of the draw can have too big an effect. A team could top a strong group but not go through due to the fact another team has scored more points in a far weaker group.

Thirdly, it means all but four teams go all the way to Blackpool for, effectively, only 54 minutes of rugby (three games of 18 minutes). Having quarter-finals at least means eight teams go through, and having normal round-robin groups gives more teams more to play for.

The argument was that having quarter-finals would drag the day out too long, and it already went on from about 9.30am to 7pm.

But would four more 18-minute matches (nine minutes each way), played concurrently over two pitches, really make that much difference? It amounts to an extra 40 minutes on the day.

Given the choice of an extra 40 minutes and a system that is simple and fair, or 40 minutes less and a system that is convoluted and unfair, I know which one I’d go for.

WHILE I’m on the point, I wish the Northern Rail Cup would revert to its original easy-to-follow format too. And then stay that way rather than being constantly meddled with.

Four or five groups – all based on geographical location to increase the number of derby games and reduce travelling costs – with the top teams in the respective group tables after round-robin games going to quarter-finals.

Simple, fair and better for finances. Why mess with it?

Lewis gets on the mark in reserves ahead of first-team recall

STEVE LEWIS was recalled to the Knights’ first team for tomorrow’s match against Workington at Huntington Stadium after a successful outing in Thursday night’s reserves match against Dewsbury.

As revealed on thepress.co.uk yesterday, Lewis, playing at loose-forward, scored a try in the Knights’ 50-22 Reserve Team Championship defeat to their Dewsbury counterparts, before being withdrawn at half-time in readiness for tomorrow’s match.

The 23-year-old, who has made 12 first-team appearances in another injury-hit campaign, can also play in the second row or in the back line so offers head coach Dave Woods various options.

Other try-scorers for York were Wayne Reittie, who was playing at centre, with two, and Joe Stearman, who was playing for the team for the first time this year.

Stearman, 22, the twin of first-team prop Jack, formerly played on the wing but turned out in the second row on Thursday night in a young team. Dan Walton also returned for the first time this season after a long injury absence.

Another youngster, Dan Mole, added the conversions, but the Knights, featuring a few other youngsters short of regular match practice, tired to allow the Rams to add a few late points.

JACK LEE will be presented with his Press Player of the Month award for June before kick off tomorrow.