ALL three York City Knights sides will take to the field on the same day at the same venue for the first time on Sunday afternoon.

York’s Men’s, Ladies and Disability teams will all compete in respective matches at the LNER Community Stadium in a showcase of the club’s diversity.

While the Men’s and Ladies outfits have previously played alongside one another in double headers, this weekend marks the first time that the Disability side have also been involved.

The Knights Learning Disability (LDRL) side will face Leeds Rhinos LDRL across two matches.

Each club will field two separate sides, the first taking place during the half-time interval of the Ladies match with Leeds and second held prior to the Men’s match against London Broncos.

“We just want to be make the whole day a spectacle and as enjoyable as possible for everyone involved,” enthused Adam Prentis, of York City Knights Foundation.

“The disability guys are looking forward to supporting both the men and the women and making an occasion of it.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming our friends from Leeds Rhinos across for the day.

“We’ve been over to Kirkstall previously and played friendlies against them and we know them all too well from the national festivals.

“I think that ties in nicely with the women’s game against the Rhinos too, so there’s an added interest there and they’ll be cheering on the Rhinos Women, I’m sure.

“I’m sure that the Knights Disability guys will be cheering on both the Knights men and women and looking forward to playing on a big stage themselves, in the Community Stadium.”

Prentis also expressed his delight at seeing the LDRL side taking to the field for the first time at the LNER Community Stadium, which opened its doors last year.

“It’s a huge platform to showcase the sport,” he said. “I’m really pleased for the players that they’ll get this opportunity and to bring them together with the rest of the club, which I think is really important.

“I know that the players are really looking forward to it, and that goes for both sets of teams.

“There’s some friendships between the two teams and I’m glad that rugby league can play a role in that.”

The growth of disability rugby league has been one of the sport’s major success stories over recent years at a community level.

“The concept is fairly unique,” explained Prentis. “To be able to represent your home club and play against other household names, like Leeds, Wigan and St Helens, is huge.

“It wasn’t so long ago, only back in 2019, that there was no opportunity for matches and the disability branch of the sport was pretty much just training-based.

“Now that exits and the sport is growing year on year.

“On a local note, we’ve got more numbers training than ever before and we’re really pleased that we’re attracting new people as well as retaining our existing members.”