Kippax Knights are an amateur

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

team based in Kippax, Leeds,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The team plays in the

Yorkshire Men's League The Yorkshire Men's League is a summer rugby league competition for amateur teams in Yorkshire. The competition was formed in 2009 as the RLC Yorkshire Premier by splitting the RLC North Premier into two competitions - this and the RLC North ...

History

1948-2009

Kippax Welfare rugby league has been a part of Kippax village for many years. The first team was formed in 1948 by Jack Kielty based at the ''Old Tree inn''. In 1958 Kippax went on to win the Yorkshire Cup beating Castleford Lock Lane. By the late 1960s through to the 70s, Kippax were now playing from the ''White Swan''. Kippax has played in the Challenge Cup qualifying rounds on numerous occasions, but 1973–74 was the first time Kippax played in the proper first round of the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

coming up against

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. Leigh play homes games at Leigh Sports Village and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. ...

which Kippax fell just short of winning. In the early 1980s, Kippax moved to the Longdike Lane facilities. This also saw the introduction of youth and junior teams, two England and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

internationals, Danny Orr and Andy Lynch. During the early 2000s, Kippax Welfare played in the Pennine Leagues under ex-Hunslet player Andrew Atha. Ex-pros in Gateshead Thunder player Andy Walker and Featherstone Rovers duo Kieran Hickman and Dean Ripley helped the team become Division Three Champions in 2002–03, Division Two Champions in 2004–05 and Division One Champions in 2008–09. The team were Castleford Cup Champions as well in 2008–09. Atha was eventually replaced by a coaching team of David Jessey and Kippax Welfare and former Super League player Gavin Swinson. The Kippax 'A' (second) team won Pennine Division Six (Undefeated) coached by Neil Collins.

2009–Present

In February 2009, the team was renamed ''Kippax Knights'' and they joined the Yorkshire Premier division of the

Rugby League Conference The Rugby League Conference, also known as the Co-operative Rugby League Conference as a result of sponsorship from The Co-operative Group), was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, Sco ...

. The Knights won the 2009 Yorkshire Premier Division in this first season, then they also went on to win the Grand Final, making it a double winning 2009 season. In 2010, Kippax were promoted to the National League. The 2011 season started with a first round date in the Challenge Cup against

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

with the Knights narrowly losing. The Knights finished 2011 in the Grand Final at

Halliwell Jones Stadium Halliwell Jones Stadium is a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England, which is the home ground of the Warrington Wolves. It has also staged Challenge Cup semi-finals, the European Nations Final, the National League Grand Finals' Day, two g ...

, losing to Huddersfield Underbank Rangers. The club joined the

in 2013.

Club honours

* RLC Yorkshire Premier League Winners: 2009 * RLC Yorkshire Premier Grand Final Winners: 2009 * Forty-20 Shield Winners: 2014

References

External links

{{Conference League South Rugby League Conference teams Sport in the City of Leeds Rugby clubs established in 2009 Rugby league teams in West Yorkshire 2009 establishments in England