York Rugby League Club will kick off their 1999 first division campaign with a trip over the Pennines to face Leigh Centurions.

That is the final outcome after the fixture list for next season, which begins on February 7, was finally revealed following weeks of waiting and wondering.

The match gives the Wasps every chance of getting off to a winning start at Hilton Park, where a £200,000 development of a new stand is to begin before the end of the year, against a side who finished bottom of last season's first division.

The first visitors to Huntington Stadium, on February 21, are in the more familiar shape of last season's second division champions Lancashire Lynx.

York beat Lancashire in both encounters last term but this will be something of a grudge match after Lynx snatched the second division title away from Dean Robinson's men on points difference.

In the new league format, which sees one division of 18 clubs, each team will not face every other club home and away because of the excessive number of games that would produce. To keep the number of matches down to 28, each club will face six sides just once during the course of the season.

York will be pleased to meet two of the division's strongest sides, Dewsbury and Featherstone, only once. They face Dewsbury away on Friday, May 7, and entertain Featherstone in a mouthwatering clash on Sunday, May 30.

The Wasps other away-only games are at Rochdale and Barrow while their other home-only fixtures are against Whitehaven and Widnes.

That means York will face just two gruelling trips to Cumbria, against Workington on March 21 and Barrow on June 6.

Other games which are sure to excite the Wasps fans are the two meetings with former giants and local rivals Hull Kingston Rovers who were widely tipped to win the first division last season. York must travel to Hull for a Good Friday showdown on April 2 with Rovers returning to Huntington Stadium on Sunday, August 1.

The only change in the fixture list will occur if Doncaster Dragons fail to kick off the new season. A takeover of the South Yorkshire club is currently deadlocked and the players have yet to be paid for the final game of the last campaign.

Season tickets are now on sale at Huntington Stadium, with discounted prices available until Saturday. A ground only pass is £84 for adults and £48 OAPs while a seat pass costs £108 adults and £72 OAPs. Before Saturday, ground only passes are £70 adults, £40 OAPs, and seat passes £95 adults, £60 OAPs.

Junior passes cost £25 as part of a Junior Wasps package.

York RL fixtures 1999

(Kick-offs 3pm unless stated)

JANUARY 1999

Sunday 31 Silk Cut Challenge Cup Third Round

FEBRUARY

Sunday 7 Leigh Away

Sunday 14 Challenge Cup Fourth Round

Sunday 21 Lancashire Lynx Home

Sunday 28 Challenge Cup Fifth Round

MARCH

Sunday 5 Keighley Away

Sunday 14 Swinton Home or Challenge Cup Sixth Round

Sunday 21 Workington Away

Saturday 27 Challenge Cup Semi-Final One

Sunday 28 Batley Home or Challenge Cup Semi-Final Two

APRIL

Friday 2 Hull K R Away

Monday 5 Hunslet Home

Sunday 11 Doncaster Away

Sunday 18 Bramley Home

Sunday 25 Oldham Away

MAY

Saturday 1 Challenge Cup Final

Friday 7 Dewsbury Away (7.30pm)

Sunday 16 Whitehaven Home

Sunday 23 Rochdale Away

Sunday 30 Featherstone Home

JUNE

Sunday 6 Barrow Away

Sunday 13 Widnes Home

Sunday 20 Leigh Home

Friday 25 Lancashire Lynx Away (7.30pm)

JULY

Sunday 4 Keighley Home

Sunday 11 Swinton Away

Sunday 18 Workington Home

Sunday 25 Batley Away

AUGUST

Sunday 1 Hull K R Home

Sunday 8 Hunslet Away (3.30pm)

Sunday 15 Doncaster Home

Sunday 22 Bramley Away

Sunday 29 Oldham Home

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.