Knights' warm-up plans affected

York City Knights could miss out on a lucrative game against the touring Australian Fijians because their ground will not be available.

The pitch is being re-seeded at the Huntington Stadium and the Knights can not use it for the whole of December.

General manager Ian Wilson told BBC Radio York: "We're trying to move the game somewhere else.

"And I guess we have to look for alternative training facilities which this time of year aren't easy to find."

Wilson added that the club were only told about the work this week when they tried to arrange the match.

We're not going to be able to go on it, not just for that game but in the whole of December, which obviously impacts on our training plans

York City Knights general manager Ian Wilson

"The pitch is reseeded every year but normally it's done pretty much straight away after we get knocked out of the play-offs or the league.

"This time I think it only started last week or the back end of the week before.

"We've only just found out that we're not going to be able to go on it, not just for that game but in the whole of December, which obviously impacts on our training plans."

Wilson said that the Knights were stepping in as opponents for the Australian Fijians after another club pulled out.

"With the World Cup and the success of the Fijians we thought it might be something good for the club to get involved with.

"We said it would be interesting playing them. We thought we had all this sorted out but unfortunately we found out the stadium is not going to be available on that date due to maintenance on the pitch.

"It's obviously a bit disappointing that we might not be able to play the game now.

"Hopefully we might be able to put something in place but it's a big 'if' I think."