Yorkshire Carnegie renamed and pledge to get ‘back to roots’

Yorkshire Carnegie will revert to their former name of Leeds Tykes and uproot themselves from Headingley after two troubled seasons.

Relegated from the Championship to National One, controversial financial problems arising in the end of 2018-19 saw a number of recruits from New Zealand told they would have no contract at the club after it agreed to a CVA (Company Voluntary Agreement) on debts of more than £500,000.

As some players such as Antonio Kiri Kiri and Fa’atiga Lemalu found moves elsewhere last summer, other players returned to New Zealand after a short-lived stay.

While Carnegie underwent a rebuild of its depleted squad, bringing in Tom Varndell and Joey Ford, results reflected how off the pace the club were in the second tier as a result of months of uncertainty.

With a new chairman at the head of the club in Alastair Da Costa, Carnegie will become Leeds Tykes again 16 years on from their name change to Leeds Carnegie, and then Yorkshire Carnegie in 2014 as part of a partnership with the city’s university.

“We felt it was better to get back to our community and Leeds roots,” Da Costa said of the decision

“We probably lost a bit of that with the name Yorkshire, we got carried away perhaps with our ambition to dominate things in Yorkshire,” he added to BBC Radio Leeds.

Under director of rugby Phil Davies, Leeds Tykes will move out of Headingley and set up residence at West Park Leeds as the club transitions from professional to amateur status.

In July, The Rugby Paper exclusively reported that the club’s academy would be closed by the RFU after Leeds Beckett University pulled out of a partnership agreement to split the £200,000 required to operate the club’s pathway.