York's glory run revives old dreams for Agar

As befits someone with his connections, Richard Agar is a believer in the romance of the Challenge Cup - but only up to a point.

As befits someone with his connections, Richard Agar is a believer in the romance of the Challenge Cup - but only up to a point.

The York City Knights coach was 11 when his father, Allan, guided Featherstone Rovers to victory over the mighty Hull in the 1983 final at Wembley.

"It was a fairy story," recalls Richard. "But they have become fewer and further between in the Cup since then."

That is why he cannot be lured into making rash predictions about York's prospects in this year's quarter-finals, which takes them to the McAlpine Stadium to play Huddersfield tomorrow.

York are part-timers from National League Two, where their opponents this season will include the likes of Chorley, Gateshead and the London Skolars. A little more than a year ago, the city had no professional team at all, the previous club having collapsed under the weight of its debts midway through the previous season.

Having consolidated last year, the re-born York brought in Agar - recently retired after a career as a thoughtful loose forward at Rochdale and Dewsbury among others - and now find themselves somewhere they never expected to be.

A last minute win in the fifth round - at Featherstone, of all places - took them into the last eight and now he sees his main job as keeping expectations within realistic bounds.

"I'm very mindful that National League Two is the number one priority, but this is lovely for our supporters." Some of those supporters remember the last time York reached the semi-finals in 1984; few expected to see them get as close as this again.

"It's been a great success story, for the club to come from where it was less than two years ago, and this cup run has certainly lifted our profile," Agar says as he prepares for the moment of truth at the McAlpine.

"I don't want us to worry too much about the scoreboard. I'd just like us to give a good account of ourselves, to give them a few problems in one or two areas. We have to beat them for enthusiasm, because if we don't do that it could be a struggle."

Agar's personal struggle is against someone he remembers well from those heady days when his dad brought the Cup home to Featherstone and he and Jon Sharp, the Huddersfield coach, were neighbours.

"Jon and I grew up on the same street. He was three or four years older than me, but he had brothers the same age as me and we all played football, cricket and rugby together in the back-street," Agar recalls. Sometimes, thanks to Agar senior's Wembley success, the prize for those rugby games could be the Challenge Cup itself, but his son does not seriously expect to get as close to the game's most famous trophy this year.

"Respectability is probably the right word," he concedes. "I know what a good job Jon has done at Huddersfield. They're a very workmanlike side in Super League and that hasn't just happened; he's worked very hard for it and I hope it continues for him."

For York, success would be to slow down the Giants on Sunday and they are at least blessed with some players who know everything about the heights and depths to which the Cup can take you. Lee Jackson played for Great Britain and for Leeds when they won it in 1999. Such is his importance to York that Agar wrapped him in cotton-wool for last week's Arriva Trains Cup fixture.

"He's one guy that we couldn't afford to start the game without," Agar says. "His skill and experience at dummy half are vital to us." Then there is Nathan Graham, who, as Bradford's full-back, was bombed into oblivion by St Helens' kicking game at Wembley in 1996. It remains one of the Challenge Cup's great individual disasters.

"He's got Cup memories to look back on - not all of them good ones. I thought he was having a pretty good game that day until they started bombing him, but he's gone on to have a solid career and nothing worries him now."

But perhaps the player who typifies the spirit that has brought York this far and could prevent humiliation tomorrow is Richard Hayes. The 34-year-old prop, last season's captain, retired this winter because of persistent shoulder problems.

Agar says: "But, being the sort of bloke he is, he said 'If you're ever short, give me a shout.' I've sent for him four times so far. And what he did for us at Featherstone was a fairy-story."

That phrase again. Like all stories, they have a beginning, a middle and an end; but, even if they end in defeat, there is no rule that they have to end in disgrace and disillusionment.