In the 2023 rugby league season, the York Knights competed in the 2023 RFL Championship, the 2023 Challenge Cup and the 2023 RFL 1895 Cup. This was the first season in which the team competed as the York Knights following the club changing its name to York RLFC from the York City Knights in October 2022.
York had an inconsistent first part of the season where after a strong start they were fourth in the league having won three of their opening five league games. They then had a run of four league defeats and put together back-to-back league wins once more before having a mid-season run of five losses that left York near the bottom of the table. Their league form changed in July from which point they won 10 of their final 11 league matches to finish in sixth-place and equal their position from the previous season. In the Challenge Cup, York reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004 and the team also qualified for the semi-finals of the 1895 Cup.
Summary Pre-season On 14 October 2022, the York City Knights announced the club had been renamed as York RLFC, with the men's team being known as the York Knights and the women's team being rebranded as York Valkyrie. On 17 October, Andrew Henderson was appointed as head coach replacing James Ford who had recently left to take a coaching role at Wakefield Trinity. In November, Danny Kirmond took on the role of player/assistant coach and in January Ged Corcoran was also appointed as an assistant coach.
In a pre-season interview Henderson noted several factors that had influenced preparations for the upcoming campaign, including that the majority of new signings for the season had been made before his arrival, and that some of the players required time off to recover following the 2021 World Cup. Several York players had been called up to represent national teams at the tournament, which took place in October and November 2022, but before the start of the 2023 season two of them, Jacob Ogden and Brendan O'Hagan, had asked to be released from their contracts at York.
York played only one pre-season match, a 28–12 away win at League 1 side Doncaster. The following week, their home friendly against Batley Bulldogs was cancelled due to the pitch being frozen. At the start of February, Love Rugby Leagues season preview predicted York would repeat their 2022 season to finish sixth in the table.
2023 season York's season began on 5 February with a home loss to Widnes Vikings in the Championship. They then recorded a home win against Bradford Bulls before travelling to Toulouse Olympique where they lost 36–0. Two league wins, against Barrow Raiders and Swinton Lions, were followed on 12 March by a win over NCL Division One side West Bowling in the third round of the Challenge Cup. The match saw Matty Marsh make his 100th appearance for York. In mid-March, BBC Sport selected York's fourth round Challenge Cup match against Sheffield Eagles to be shown on its iPlayer service. Both clubs were in the top four of the Championship at the time, but York then lost their next two league games slipping to ninth in the table with head coach Andrew Henderson commenting that York's "performances certainly haven't been at the standard that we expect from ourselves as a group". In the cup match, York had a 20–0 lead over Sheffield when Danny Kirmond, who had scored two of York's tries, was sent-off after 30 minutes, but the team held on to win the match 24–22.
Back in the Championship, York's run of losses continued with a 22–10 defeat to Keighley Cougars and an away loss to Halifax Panthers. that saw York drop to tenth in the table. York then had a series of home matches against two teams that they had done well against in recent meetings; Newcastle Thunder and London Broncos. On 21 April, York defeated Newcastle 22–18 in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup. The win also earned York a place in the semi-finals of the 1895 Cup later in the year. York then won 30–28 against London in a match played as a double header with the Women's Challenge Cup match between York Valkyrie and . For the matches, which took place on Heritage Weekend, both York teams wore shirts in black and gold hoops inspired by the York side that reached the semi-finals of the 1983–84 Challenge Cup. The Knights followed this with a league win over Newcastle before recording a 36–12 win over London in the sixth round of the cup which saw York qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004 and become the only remaining Championship side in the competition.
York were back at the York Community Stadium the next week, this time as the nominal away side as they faced Featherstone Rovers in the Summer Bash. Their 46–16 defeat to the team at the top of the league was the start of a run of five losses in the Championship, during which time York were also knocked out the Challenge Cup at the quarter-finals stage. The cup match was played alongside the women's match between York Valkyrie and Cardiff Demons, on what was the first time that a double-header of men's and women's Challenge Cup quarter-final matches had been hosted at one venue. York Knights held the lead against Super League side Leigh Leopards until the last twenty minutes but went on to lose 34–14 and exited the competition.
York's from began to improve at the start of July with a 28–12 win over Halifax Panthers which moved them up to tenth in the league and seven points off the bottom of the table. This was followed by wins against Keighley Cougars and Sheffield Eagles that moved York up to ninth place. On 23 July, York played in the semi-final of the 1895 Cup against Batley who were third in the Championship at the time. York could not recover from a 14–0 deficit at half-time and went on to lose the match 22–8. A win over London Broncos then gave York a run of four successive league wins before they hosted second-placed Toulouse at the start of August. After trailing 12–4 at the interval, York fought back to take a two-point lead before Toulouse scored with 10 minutes remaining to win 18–14. York's fightback in their match against Widnes proved more successful when they came from 20–12 down at half-time to win 40–30. After the match, York were still in ninth place, but were now on 20 points and with five matches remaining were still in contention for the play-offs.
York followed this with a 20–6 win at Newcastle Thunder and started September with a 26–22 home win over Swinton Lions. A 20–10 victory at Bradford Bulls kept the winning run going for York as they headed into their round 26 match against Batley. After going 10–0 down, York recovered to go in 14–10 at the interval. Batley then levelled midway through the second half but a late drop goal from Liam Harris was enough to give York a 15–14 win and moved them up to seventh in the table just a point behind Halifax. York then won their final match of the regular season away to Barrow and, with a Halifax loss to Swinton, they moved up into sixth-place to claim the final play-off spot. In the opening round of the play-offs, York travelled to Bradford where after taking an 8–0 lead, York could not withstand a Bradford fightback that ended York's season with a 22–8 defeat.
Post-season At the end-of-year awards, Andrew Henderson was nominated as Championship Coach of the Year and AJ Towse was nominated for Championship Young Player of the Year for a second time. Both lost out to London Broncos' nominees Mike Eccles (coach) and Bill Leyland (young player), however there was some success for York RLFC with York Valkyrie, who had won the Women's Super League, picking up the Coach of the Year (Lindsay Anfield) and Woman of Steel awards (Sinead Peach), and York's wheelchair team winning the Wheelchair Rugby League Club of the Year Award.
In October, York were awarded a provisional Grade B ranking under the newly introduced IMG Grading system. Their score of 10.05 placed them at 17th in the rankings.
York captain Chris Clarkson, who had joined the club ahead of the 2020 campaign, announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Also announcing his retirement was Danny Kirmond who re-joined former club Wakefield in a coaching role. Other departures included Pauli Pauli, who had missed much of the season through injury, and Matty Marsh who signed for Sheffield Eagles at the end of the year along with James Glover who had been on loan there since July and made his move permanent for the 2024 season.
Results Pre-season friendlies
DateVersusH/AVenueResultScoreTriesGoalsAttendanceReport+Pre-season results 15 January Doncaster A Eco-Power Stadium 28–12 Marsh (2), Hingano, Fitzsimmons, Daley, Glover Harris (2) 22 January Batley Bulldogs H York Community Stadium – C–C colspan=3
Championship
League table
Championship results
DateRoundVersusH/AVenueResultScoreTriesGoalsAttendanceReport+Championship results 5 February 1 Widnes Vikings H York Community Stadium 12–19 Brown, Kirmond Glover (2) 2,117 13 February 2 Bradford Bulls H York Community Stadium 32–16 Daley, Jubb, Kirby, Michael Glover (8) 2,381 18 February 3 Toulouse Olympique A Stade Ernest-Wallon 0–36 2,761 26 February 4 Barrow Raiders H York Community Stadium 28–14 Brown, Dee, Harrison, Hingano, Kirby Glover (4) 1,525 5 March 5 Swinton Lions A Heywood Road 40–0 Brown (2), Harrison (2), Towse (2), Daley, Hingano Glover (4) 1,029 19 March 6 Whitehaven H York Community Stadium 12–14 Marsh, Towse Glover (2) 1,614 26 March 7 Featherstone Rovers A Millennium Stadium 4–46 Glover 2,892 7 April 8 Keighley Cougars H York Community Stadium 10–22 Antrobus, Harris Glover 2,168 16 April 9 Halifax Panthers A The Shay 6–16 Glover Glover 1,454 7 May 10 London Broncos H York Community Stadium 30–28 Towse (3), Clarkson, Ta'ai Glover (5) 1,802 14 May 11 Newcastle Thunder H York Community Stadium 26–22 Field (2), Brown, Glover, Pratt, Towse Glover 2,278 27 May 12 Featherstone Rovers A York Community Stadium 16–46 Brown, Daley, Dee Glover (2) 3,793 4 June 13 Batley Bulldogs A Fox's Biscuits Stadium 8–14 Dee, Glover 2,991 9 June 14 Sheffield Eagles A Olympic Legacy Park 10–40 Clarkson, Fitzsimmons Brown 1,051 25 June 16 Featherstone Rovers H York Community Stadium 8–24 Hingano, Towse 2,554 28 June 15 Whitehaven A LEL Areana 24–26 Towse (2), Kirmond, Pratt, Santi Harrison (2) 951 2 July 17 Halifax Panthers H York Community Stadium 28–18 Harrison (2), Cunningham, Dee, Towse Harrison (4) 1,823 9 July 18 Keighley Cougars A Cougar Park 50–10 Dee (3), Brown (2), Field, Fitzsimmons, Towse Harrison (9) 1,654 16 July 19 Sheffield Eagles H York Community Stadium 23–18 Bass, Dee, Harris, Thompson Harris (3 + Drop goal) 2,266 30 July 20 London Broncos A Cherry Red Records Stadium 24–10 Bass, Field, Fitzsimmons, Jubb Harris (4) 957 5 August 21 Toulouse Olympique H York Community Stadium 14–18 Bass (2), Santi Harris 1,483 20 August 21 Widnes Vikings A DCBL Stadium 40–30 Field (2), Dee, Fitzsimmons, Pemberton, Pratt, Towse Harris (6) 3,008 25 August 22 Newcastle Thunder A Kingston Park 20–6 Harrison (2), Jubb Harris (4) 788 3 September 24 Swinton Lions H York Community Stadium 26–22 Pratt (2), Jubb, Thompson Harris (5) 2,114 10 September 25 Bradford Bulls A Odsal Stadium 20–10 Fitzsimmons, Harrison, Towse Harris (4) 3,603 18 September 26 Batley Bulldogs H York Community Stadium 15–14 Brown, Pratt, Towse Harris (1 + Drop goal) 2,377 24 September 27 Barrow Raiders A Prestige Stadium 31–18 Field, Michael, Santi, Ta'ai, Towse Harris (5 + Drop goal) 2,292
Play-offs
DateRoundVersusH/AVenueResultScoreTriesGoalsAttendanceReport+Play-off results 1 October Eliminators Bradford Bulls A Odsal Stadium 8–22 Dee Harris (2) 2,738
Challenge Cup / 1895 Cup
In the 2023 season, the Challenge Cup and the RFL 1895 Cup used a format where the four non-Super League sides which progressed to the sixth round of the Challenge Cup qualified for the semi-finals of the 1895 Cup.