YORK City will not be playing on Boxing Day this Christmas because of the club's reluctance to pay Bank Holiday policing costs.

Manager Billy McEwan's men had been scheduled to play Halifax Town on one of the biggest dates in the sport's calendar but the KitKat Crescent clash has now been brought forward three days to Saturday, December 23.

The Saturday before Christmas is notoriously the poorest weekend for attendances at football clubs and the move will, no doubt, result in a drop in gate revenue.

But City's board have made the decision because the police bill will increase by 55 per cent if the match is played on Boxing Day with the police force charging Bank Holiday rates.

The club are currently in discussions with North Yorkshire Police over the cost of policing matches at KitKat Crescent.

Last month, The Press revealed that the police were proposing changes to their charges for working at public events, including City home games.

Based on national police guidelines, on which North Yorkshire's proposed new charges are due to be calculated, the force would charge £48.29 an hour for a constable's services and up to £86.33 for a chief superintendent's time.

If those charges were insisted upon before Christmas then The Press estimates City could foot a bill as large as £16,000 to police the Halifax fixture.

The Minstermen have two matches this season which will require a police presence inside the ground and they are against Halifax Town and current Conference leaders Oxford United.

By bringing forward their derby clash with the Shaymen, the match could also be downgraded from a Category C' game to a Category B' fixture.

Category C' clashes are policed by 33 officers, while Category B' matches are manned by 23.

About the change, City managing director Jason McGill said: "We hope fans will understand our predicament regarding the Halifax game.

"Ideally, we would like to host the fixture on Boxing Day. However, the police charges would be far too high."

The last time City did not play on Boxing Day was in 1993 when they entertained Hull City on December 27. The game attracted an 8,481 crowd and then record receipts of £49,366.

City have also agreed to switch their home match with Woking to Friday, December 29 and a 7.45pm kick-off at the request of the visiting team.

The game had been scheduled for Saturday, December 30 but the change will mean the Minstermen gain an extra day's preparation for the New Year's Day trip to Morecambe.

McGill added: "Woking kindly agreed to a fixture change last season in order to avoid a clash with York Races so we were pleased to reciprocate.

"We hope the changes will not cause our supporters too much inconvenience and have tried to arrange the alterations well in advance to give our fans as much notice as possible."


City's Boxing Day top ten

1949 - 11,648 York City 1 Carlisle United 1 1952 - 11,380 York City 2 Tranmere Rovers 0 1948 - 10,870 York City 2 New Brighton 1 1957 - 10,785 York City 2 Hartlepools 2 1946 - 10,410 York City 1 Southport 1 1931 - 8,183 York City 1 Doncaster Rovers 2 1938 - 8,182 York City 4 Crewe Alexandra 1 1967 - 8,132 York City 1 Barnsley 1 2003 - 7,923 York City 0 Hull City 2 1929 - 7,834 York City 3 Barrow 1, 1929

City's Boxing Day last ten

2005 - 4,921 York City 3 Scarborough 1 2003 - 7,923 York City 0 Hull City 2 1998 - 5,630 York City 3 Burnley 3 1997 - 7,093 York City 0 Grimsby Town 0 1995 - 5,218 York City 0 Bradford City 3 1994 - 4,542 York City 4 Blackpool 0 1991 - 2,745 York City 0 Rochdale 1 1989 - 3,665 York City 0 Halifax Town 2 1985 - 5,472 York City 0 Doncaster Rovers 1 1984 - 6,397 York City 4 Burnley 0