YORK City Knights sit in upper mid-table when it comes to the cost of following a Kingstone Press League One club - unless you're under 16 or attend as a family, of course.

A new study into the cost of supporting rugby league teams has been carried out for all three professional leagues.

Unsurprisingly, Super League clubs are the most expensive to follow, with Huddersfield having the priciest standard season ticket at £305 (though they do have the cheapest early bird renewal at only £99) while Salford Red Devils offer the cheapest at £199.

Hull KR are easily the most pricey in the Championship at £250, followed by Halifax at £222, with London Broncos, perhaps surprisingly, the cheapest at £99, considerably below the next lowest in Bradford (£149) and Rochdale (£150).

York sit fourth in the League One list, with standard season tickets at Bootham Crescent costing £140, behind Whitehaven (£160), Barrow (£155) and Keighley (£150).

Doncaster (£130), Workington (£130), Hunslet (£125) and Newcastle (£125) are not far behind. Expansion clubs with more modest facilities are generally the cheapest, led by Hemel Stags, where it costs only £75 for a season pass to their little Pennine Way ground.

However, you won't find anywhere cheaper than York if you're under 16, and you're unlikely to find anywhere cheaper if you go as a family either, given that all U16s get into Knights home games for free - an initiative that has earned the Minster city club a lot of credit.

Huddersfield have the priciest replica shirts in Super League at £55, with the rest costing between £47 and £50, while those in the Championship and League One generally cost in the region of £45. Minnow clubs Hemel and Coventry have only club T-shirts for sale.

The Knights are among the cheapest for refreshments in League One, with a pie and a pint setting you back £2 and £3 respectively. Only Keighley have cheaper pies and only Newcastle have cheaper lager.

You'd have to dig a bit deeper for such refreshments if you went to a Super League match.

The study was carried out by York firm LoveMyVouchers.co.uk and can be found in full at http://www.lovemyvouchers.co.uk/rugby-league-fan-costs-2017/

TALKING of value for money, if anyone televises rugby league outside the top flight again, then any game between the Knights and North Wales Crusaders must surely be one for consideration given recent match-ups.

The teams have now met four times since the Crusaders were reinvented as North Wales and never have they been separated by more than two points.

The theme continued in the season-opening League One Cup tie last week, when the Crusaders scored a last-minute try and touchline conversion to level the scores at 16-16 before winning it with a golden-point drop-goal in extra time.

Their only league clash last year saw the Knights this time equalise with a last-minute try and touchline conversion, Tyler Craig the hero with both, in another 16-16 draw at the end of 80 minutes.

The two meetings late in the 2015 season, meanwhile, both ended 30-28 - the Crusaders winning the first humdinger in York thanks to a controversial late penalty after an incredible Knights comeback had brought them level from 28-0 down at half-time, and James Ford's men getting payback over in Wrexham in another thriller just 17 days later.

WE will again be running The Press Player of the Year and Player of the Month awards this season.

As in previous years, whoever is deemed our man of the match in each game will receive three points towards their Player of the Year tally, with the second-best and third-best performers getting two points and one point respectively.

There are also three bonus points for winning a Player of the Month award during the season, the first one of which will be for March.

Whoever tops the table at the end of the season lifts the prestigious annual gong.

The Player of the Month awards will again decided by fans' votes emailed in to peter.martini@thepress.co.uk or tweeted to @PMartiniPress.

If there is a tie, the award goes to the player with the highest aggregate ratings over the matches during that month. Votes must be received by noon on the Wednesday after the last game of each month.

Anyone interested in sponsoring either or both The Press Player of the Year and Month awards, can phone Peter Martini on 01904 567137 or email peter.martini@thepress.co.uk for details.

The initial leader of the 2017 Player of the Year table is the 2016 winner, Ed Smith, our man of the match in last week's cup tie against North Wales (3pts). Second and third are new recruits Tim Spears (2pts) and Ash Robson (1pt).