Keighley cautiously optimistic over RFL’s new strategic partnership deal

Three decades after being denied a place in the inaugural Super League and subsequently plunging to the brink of extinction, a mood of cautious optimism prevails at Keighley Cougars, a club that could be forgiven an uncomfortable sense of deja-vu.

A radical restructuring of the game in 1995 saw Cougars excluded from the top flight and hastened a painful decline into liquidation from which the club only began to emerge in 2019, following the return of chairman and owner Mick O’Neill, architect of the original wave of so-called ‘Cougarmania’.

Twenty-seven years on, the Cougars’ trajectory is once again thrusting upwards, a crowd of 1,800 having witnessed Rhys Lovegrove’s side extend their winning start in League One to seven straight games with a hard-fought victory over Rochdale Hornets on Sunday.

But last week’s news of the RFL’s 12-year strategic partnership deal with the global media brand IMG has led to understandable concerns that the prospect of another wholesale restructuring of the domestic game should align with the Cougars’ re-emergence.

O’Neill’s son Ryan, a co-owner who has instigated a series of ground-breaking initiatives including the hosting of the first Pride Game against West Wales Raiders in 2019, and the incorporation of the Progress Pride flag into their kit for the 2021 campaign, says any decisions must be rooted in recognition of the game’s traditional northern heartland.

“I am optimistic because IMG have a proven track record, and because having ‘outside eyes’ can make it much easier to see the mistakes that sport has made or is making,” O’Neill told PA Media.

Rugby League's greatest asset is the strength of its roots in northern towns - this is something to be embraced, not embarrassed by. I hope