T'Other Side: York Knights

  

Head Coach: Andrew Henderson

Whilst playing at Sheffield Eagles, Andrew Henderson’s first coaching role was with amateur club Sheffield Hallam Eagles in 2013. He was playing for London Broncos in 2015 when their coach, Joey Grima, left and Andrew was asked to step in as caretaker coach as well as player and in May he was confirmed as head coach and continued in that position until the end of the 2017 season whereupon he joined Warrington Wolves as assistant coach.

As well as coaching he was head of rugby at Keighley Cougars in 2021 and 2022.

This is his first year as head coach at York.

His playing career, primarily as a hooker,  began at Salford in 2001 and he went on to play for Barrow, Castleford, Gateshead, Sheffield and London Broncos. He is a Scottish international and featured for them in the 2008 and 2013 World Cups. Between his time at Barrow and Castleford he returned home to Australia for a year and played for Balmain Tigers. In the 2008 World Cup he played in two of Scotland’s three matches with his brothers Ian and Kevin in the same team.

His history makes him a good candidate for a rugby league quiz question along the lines of ‘Which player grew up in Australia, played internationally for Scotland but was born in Torquay, Devon?’

 

Captain: Chris Clarkson

 

The son of former Fev player, Micky Clarkson, made his professional début with Leeds Rhinos in 2010 and was there for 5 seasons which included a few dual reg appearances for Hunslet. In 2015 he joined Widnes and then, in 2016, moved on to Hull KR. In 2019 he signed for Castleford and joined York at the beginning of 2020. 

He usually plays in the second row or at loose forward although, in 2021, he filled in at halfback during an injury crisis.

Loan signings and dual registration

 

It would appear that York currently have three players on loan. They are Adam Jones and Reagan Sumner from Wigan and Oliver Pratt from Wakefield. As far as we know, they do not have a dual registration agreement.

 

 

The Fev connection

There are 117 players we know of who have played for both Fev and York.

 

There have been some notable moves between York and Fev. Earlier this season we profiled Mal Dixon, Steve Quinn and Terry Ramshaw. This time we have selected three more from amongst the 117 players known to have played for both clubs.

Nathan Graham was a fullback who both captained and had a stint as head coach of the Scottish International team. He joined Fev from Bradford for the 2002 season and in two years as a Rovers player made 67 appearances and scored 21 tries and a drop goal. After two seasons at Rovers he moved to York in 2004.

Arnie Morgan was primarily a prop or second rower, although early in his career he occasionally played on the wing. He made his début for Fev as a 19 year old in 1962 and in the 11 seasons he spent at Post Office Road he made 245 appearances, scored 49 triers and kicked 21 goals. He was a member of Rovers 1967 Challenge Cup winning team and is in the Rovers Hall of Fame. During his time at Fev he was capped by Yorkshire, England and Great Britain. He spent his last season before retirement at York, having moved there together with Malcolm Dixon.

As soon as Fev fans who were around in the early 1990s hear the name Gary Price they always respond with ‘Which one?’. A nightmare for commentators and statisticians, at that time Fev’s second row was often made up of Gary Price and Gary Price! They became known as Gary S and Gary H and the one we are referring to here was Gary S. He began his career with York in 1980 and was then at Leeds from 1986 until 1989 when he signed for Featherstone. In 6 seasons at Fev he made 125 appearances and scored 13 tries.