The New York Knights are a semi-professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football team based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The team currently plays in the

USA Rugby League The USA Rugby League (USARL) is the official governing body for rugby league, a code of rugby football, in the United States. The organization also runs the national amateur competition for club teams in the US. The league consists of six te ...

. They play their home games at

Pier 40 Pier 40 (officially known as Pier 40 at Hudson River Park) is a parking garage, sports facility, and former marine terminal at the west end of Houston Street in Manhattan, New York, within Hudson River Park. It is home to the New York Knight ...

Hudson River Park Hudson River Park is a waterfront park on the North River (Hudson River) that extends from 59th Street south to Battery Park in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park, a component of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway, stretches and ...

. Originally known as the New York Broncos, the team was founded in 1997 and joined the league eventually known as the

American National Rugby League The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

(AMNRL) for its inaugural 1998 season. They adopted their current name in 2001 after forming a team partnership with the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, who sent them jerseys. The Knights competed in the AMNRL until it folded in 2014, and joined the USARL the following year. In the AMNRL they won season championships in 2002, 2009, 2011, and 2012.

History

The team was founded in 1997. Originally known as the New York Broncos, they joined

Super League America The American National Rugby League (AMNRL) was a rugby league organization in the United States that operated from 1997 to 2014. The country's first domestic rugby league competition, it hosted an annual league from 1998 through 2013. Throughout it ...

, the predecessor to the modern

, for its inaugural 1998 season. In 2001 the Knights and other teams in the competition departed to form the AMNRL. All teams formed a partnership with teams in

. New York formed a partnership with the

, who sent them Knights jerseys; the team subsequently changed their name to the New York Knights. The Knights advanced to the AMNRL Grand Final in 2002. A serious

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are someti ...

interrupted the game, and the Knights, who were leading perennial champions the Glen Mills Bulls 18-12, were declared winners. This was the first time any team besides the Bulls had taken the Grand Final. The Knights made several other playoff appearances, and defeated the

Jacksonville Axemen The Jacksonville Axemen are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They currently play in the USA Rugby League (USARL). They play their home games at the North Practice Soccer Fields at the University of North F ...

to win the 2009 AMNRL Grand Final. The Knights have provided a total of nine players to the

United States national rugby league team The United States national rugby league team represents the United States in international rugby league football competitions. The team is managed by the USA Rugby League (USARL). The United States competed with little success in some internat ...

to date, as well as one to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

."New York Knights"
amnrl.com. Retrieved May 22, 2011. The Knights remained in the AMNRL until it folded in 2014. The following year they joined the

, along with other surviving AMNRL clubs.

Uniform and colors

Since 2001 the Knights have based their uniforms and team colors on those of the

of the NRL, due to their team partnership. Following Newcastle their colors are white, red and blue, and the uniforms are predominantly blue. For the 2006 and 2007 seasons the club's major jersey sponsor was

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

Stadium

The Knights currently use the Pier 40, Hudson River Park Stadium in

as their home ground. The stadium is sometimes referred to as ''The Castle'' because of the architecture and surrounding river, give the park a Castle like appearance.

Current season

The Knights finished the 2016 conference season with a record of 7-1. They will play the winners of Boston 13s v Brooklyn Kings in the Playoffs

Current 2019 roster

* Karim Singleton *

Randy Porter Randy Porter (born July 6, 1964) is a retired American stock car racing driver. Porter competed 73 NASCAR Busch Series races between 1986 and 1998, achieving 3 top ten finishes and 1 pole position. Porter also competed in two NASCAR Cup Series e ...

* Curtis Cunz * Chad Sharp * Kyle DePew *

Matt Sharp Matthew Kelly Sharp (born September 22, 1969) is an American songwriter and musician. Until 1998, he was the bassist for the alternative rock band Weezer, which he cofounded in 1992. He appears on their first two albums, the ''Weezer (Blue Album ...

Notable players

* Ryan Mulligan * Olivier Pramil * Olivier Janzac *Stephen Thompson *Kruse robinson *Troy Doyle

Honors

* AMNRL Championship titles: 4 :: 2002, 2009, 2011, 2012 * Mother's Day Sevens: 1 :: 2001 * North East Division: 1 :: 2016

References

External links

;Official websites
New York Knights Website
;News sites
USARL Website
{{New York Sports American National Rugby League teams Sports teams in New York City Rugby clubs established in 1997 USA Rugby League teams Rugby league teams in New York (state)