Leeds Rhinos lined up as possible opponents for rugby league's newest club

Google Vikings will play in Betfred League One from next season after beating off competition from Bedford Tigers and Anglian Vipers to become the division’s 10th club. Former Hull KR, Wigan Warriors and Hull FC prop Scott Taylor has been confirmed as head-coach on a two-year full-time contract.

A Goole team operated for two seasons in the early years of the Northern Union and played Leeds twice in the 1901-02 campaign, when Leeds won the second-tier Yorkshire Senior Competition. Now Vikings are hoping that rivalry can be renewed next year.

Speaking at the club’s media launch today (Tuesday), strategic advisor James Clark, who is a former chief executive of Hull FC, revealed the club are hoping to persuade Rhinos to send a team for a pre-season practice match. Goole will play at Victoria Pleasure Ground, which hosted their side at the start of the 20th century. Leeds won 6-0 there on April 5, 1902, after a 28-0 victory at Headingley exactly six months earlier.

The stadium, which also hosts the town’s football club, is set for a £7m redevelopment, due to be completed by the start of Vikings’ second season in 2026. Funds have been provided as part of a major project to revitalise the inland port.

Vikings, Goole’s only professional sports club, have announced former Dewsbury Rams and Doncaster winger Tom Halliday, who is from the town, as their first signing. Clark revealed they are recruiting from professional and amateur clubs with “five or six senior players” set to join them before pre-season begins in December, along with others from the Championship and League One.

Taylor - who admitted he is working with a “tight budget” - is racing against time to be ready for the 2025 season, but insisted: “I 100 per cent think we will have a competitive team from day one.”

He said: “We are building something special here and we want to be successful. I am realistic that there’s a big task at hand and it is tough, but I think we are on the front foot already, with where we are location-wise.”

The club are confident their close proximity to the rugby league heartlands of West Yorkshire and Hull gives them access to a huge pool of players, with youngsters released from youth systems at clubs including Rhinos, Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity among potential transfer targets. Clark feels Vikings can become “everyone’s second-favourite team” and vowed the club will play a part in regenerating the area.

“There is a huge opportunity here to help grow this town,” he said. “Rugby league is the one sport that can make a difference in this community, we are going to engage everyone and get them supporting us. We are going to get out into schools and try and help lift aspirations. Goole is a typical rugby league community, the difference we can make here could be felt very quickly.”

Vikings’ amateur club attracted crowds of up to 350 in the Yorkshire Men’s League and the club hope to build on that in the professional ranks.