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York Knights’ owner, Clint Goodchild, believes the club’s historic promotion to the Super League for the first time is a watershed moment for the whole of North Yorkshire, after they and Toulouse were granted admission to the top flight in 2026 and London Broncos missed the cut.
The Knights will play in rugby league’s highest division for the first time since 1986 after they were selected by an independent panel alongside Toulouse to join the top 12 from Thursday’s IMG gradings and expand the Super League to 14 teams for the first time in more than a decade.
Bradford Bulls, who finished 10th in those gradings, replace Salford Red Devils from this year’s 12-team lineup. The Knights, who were playing in League 1 as recently as 2018, and Toulouse have joined the Bulls among the elite after both dominated on the field throughout 2025.
Goodchild, who bought the club in 2022, said York and the wider area were long overdue such success after the Knights became the first professional sporting team from there to play in a top division in almost 40 years.
“It’s a great day for the region,” he said. “A team from York that can represent the region in the highest tier in professional sport … it’s been a long time coming. Last time we were in this position was 1985-86 and hopefully we can kick on from here.”
London were widely expected to be one of the two teams that were granted admission after a takeover of the club led by the Australian rugby league legend Darren Lockyer. However, they must now regroup and compete in the Championship for at least one more season.
The door to Super League remains ajar for the Broncos in 2027, with the gradings system that has determined promotion and relegation for the past two seasons scheduled to remain for next year as things stand. That means London would have to place inside the top 14 of the gradings at the end of next season, having finished 16th this year.
“The intent is that there will not be extra panels every year to select the teams in Super League,” the outgoing Rugby Football League chief executive, Tony Sutton, said. “Under the existing system, gradings will decide the top 14 as it has done previously with the top 12.”
Sutton said there were “five really strong applicants” for the two extra places in Super League, naming the Broncos, Widnes Vikings and Oldham as the three clubs who pushed York and Toulouse the closest for admission.
London have signed a number of high-profile players for 2026, including the Australia forward Reagan Campbell-Gillard, and they now face the remarkable prospect of walking out in places such as Batley and Workington rather than Wigan and St Helens.
However, Lockyer said the new ownership group remain fully committed to achieving success in London despite missing out on promotion this year. “The Broncos are building with purpose and clarity, and there is real belief in what can be achieved,” he said. “Our coach and many of our significant player signings for 2026 were committed to this regardless of the Super League decision and we will work hard together to achieve a new goal of winning the Championship in 2026.”
As for York, they can look forward to those marquee matches against Wigan and the newly crowned champions, Hull KR. The Knights and Toulouse will receive only half the central funding the top 12 in the gradings receive – about £650,000 – but Goodchild has stressed they are aiming to be competitive and capture the imagination of people in North Yorkshire.
“There are over 2,000 season-ticket holders at clubs like Hull FC, Hull KR and Leeds who live in a York postcode,” he said. “People want to see elite sport and they want to see the big brands. Now that we’re playing on their level in a local area, we’ll see how many convert to their home team.
“The city of York is buzzing. We’re going in there to make a difference and we will not be playing catchup.”
