| Club information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | New York Knights Rugby League Football Club |
||
| Nickname(s) | Knights | ||
| Founded | 1997 | ||
| Current details | |||
| Ground(s) | Pier 40, Hudson River Park[1] New York (5,000[3]) |
||
| CEO(s) | Robert Balachandran | ||
| Coach(s) | Guillaume Cieutat[2] | ||
| Competition | American National Rugby League | ||
| 2010 | AMNRL, 4th | ||
The New York Knights are a semi-professional rugby league football team based in New York City. The team currently plays in the American National Rugby League (AMNRL). They play their home games at Pier 40 in Hudson River Park.
Originally known as the New York Broncos, the team was founded in 1997 and joined the league now known as the AMNRL for its inaugural 1998 season. They adopted their current name in 2001 after forming a team partnership with the Newcastle Knights of Australia's National Rugby League, who sent them jerseys. Since their inception the team have made a number of playoff appearances, and won the AMNRL Grand Final in 2002 and 2009. To date they have provided nine players to the United States national rugby league team and one to Japan.[4]
Contents |
The team was founded in 1997. Originally known as the New York Broncos, they joined Super League America, the predecessor to the modern American National Rugby League, for its inaugural 1998 season. In 2001 the Knights and other teams in the competition departed to form the AMNRL. All teams formed a partnership with teams in Australia's National Rugby League. New York formed a partnership with the Newcastle Knights, who sent them Knights jerseys; the team subsequently changed their name to the New York Knights.[5][6]
The Knights advanced to the AMNRL Grand Final in 2002. A serious thunderstorm interrupted the game, and the Knights, who were leading perennial champions the Glen Mills Bulls 18-12, were declared winners.[6] This was the first time any team besides the Bulls had taken the Grand Final. The Knights made several other playoff appearances, and defeated the Jacksonville Axemen to win the 2009 AMNRL Grand Final. The Knights have provided a total of nine players to the United States national rugby league team to date, as well as one to Japan.[4]
Since 2001 the Knights have based their uniforms and team colors on those of the Newcastle Knights of the NRL, due to their team partnership. Following Newcastle their colors are white, red and blue, and the uniforms are predominately blue.[7] For the 2006 and 2007 seasons the clubs major jersey sponsor was Guinness.[8]
The Knights currently use the Pier 40, Hudson River Park Stadium in Hudson River Park as their home ground.[9] The stadium is sometimes referred to as The Castle because of the architecture and surrounding river, give the park a Castle like appearance.[10] The Stadium currently seats several thousand, and over the 2005 off-season underwent renovation work to update the ground including the installation of artificial turf, making it the only AMNRL venue with this type of turf.[11]
The Knights finished the 2010 season with a record of 4-2.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
