ABOUT 500 boys from around North Yorkshire took part in the Carnegie Champion Schools rugby league festivals in York and Selby.

The national tournament is open to every secondary school in England, Wales and Scotland is the world’s biggest rugby league knockout competition. The 11 different schools that took part at the various age groups – Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 – in this area included Settle, Millthorpe, York High, Pinder (Scarbo-rough), Canon Lee, Huntington, Joseph Rowntree, King James (Knaresborough), Selby High, Barlby, and Brayton College. These festivals were organised by the York City Knights development team, North Yorkshire Service Area and the schools themselves. Adam Prentis, the Knights’ development manager, said “The Carnegie Champion Schools competition is a fantastic event and presents an opportunity for schools from all over our region to play against one another.”

Two teams at each group qualified for the Yorkshire regional stage of the competition.

They were: Year 7 – Settle and York High; Year 8 – Archbishop Holgate and Huntington; Year 9 – King James and Huntington; Year 10 (three teams qualify due to wild card) – York High, Canon Lee and Pinder; Year 11 – King James and Joseph Rowntree.

Prentis added: “Many of the players involved already play for their local amateur club but hopefully others will now be inspired to join them in playing rugby on a weekly basis.”