LGBTQIA+ Inclusion

Regardless of your age, gender, sexuality, or religion, we want Cougar Park to be a safe and welcoming space for all who come through its gates.

Saved in 2019

In January 2019, the club was saved from the brink of extinction by Ryan O’Neill and his husband Kaue Garcia. This saw the married gay couple become the first, and still to this date only, openly LGBTQ+ owners of a professional sports club outside of the United States of America.

Buying the club gave not just Ryan and Kaue, but the LGBTQ+ community throughout sport in this country, a platform from which to make themselves heard as opinions shifted and change throughout sport was beginning to happen.

From that point onwards, the club pledged itself to its values of love, unity and peace, and has remained loyal to these values ever since.

Rugby league’s first Pride match

The club has trailblazed ever since, with the first Pride match in Rugby League and professional sport in the United Kingdom following soon after in 2019 as the Cougars faced the West Wales Raiders. This saw a traditional Pride festival headlined by a professional Rugby League fixture.

The players wore a special edition Pride kit to raise money for LGBTQ+ charities, with a drag queen famously performing both on the pitch and in the hospitality areas for a crowd of more than 2,000 people.

Despite the global pandemic, the club continued to follow its core values by doing its part for the community, delivering PPE equipment to those who needed it in hospitals.

After the return from the pandemic, the club hosted its second annual Pride fixture against the Coventry Bears at Cougar Park in August 2021. Again the players wore a special edition kit as the ground welcomed its first four-figure attendance following the pandemic, raising more money for the LGBTQ+ community and several charities.

2022: the Invincibles

The third annual Pride fixture in 2022 saw the club defeat the West Wales Raiders in front of a crowd of nearly two and a half thousand. The day saw dignitaries from the sport’s governing body, local council and parliament, and the local LGBTQ+ community in attendance on a beautiful summer’s day.

To help promote the event, the players, owners, staff and families of the club took part in a promotional video, a first of its kind anywhere in the sporting world, alongside famous drag artists from across the globe to spread the message of love, peace and unity. On the day itself, the club welcomed drag artists and singers from the local LGBTQ+ community, and the third Pride kit broke all sales and fundraising records of its two predecessors.

Following another successful Pride event of its own, the club proudly hosted Keighley Town’s first annual Pride festival in August of the same year.

On the field, the players went through what became known as ‘the Invincibles’ season, winning all twenty of their league fixtures on their way to the Betfred League 1 title. This 100% record was only the third time it had been achieved in the 128-year history of professional Rugby League, after Hull FC in the 1970s and Dewsbury Rams in 2019.

A number of club records tumbled, including a record home victory as the London Skolars were defeated 96–0, while both Charlie Graham and Mo Agoro broke the record for tries in consecutive games. The club was awarded Betfred League 1 Club of the Year, with Rhys Lovegrove and Jack Miller named Betfred League 1 Coach and Player of the Year.

Off the field, the club was awarded a £2.25 million fund by the local council to begin the long-awaited development of the Danny Jones Stand, as the wooden and metal structure entered its 90th year.

2023: the Championship

Following promotion to the Championship, the fourth annual Pride fixture was held in that division for the first time, attracting newer and even bigger crowds. The club also had its own float at Manchester Pride, with players, staff, fans, Ryan and Kaue campaigning for inclusivity in sport.

Trans Rights are Human Rights

The 2024 season focused on Trans Rights, emphasising the importance of supporting the Trans community. Co-owner Kaue Garcia said that we should all be doing our part in providing much-needed support to the Trans community, which faces constant adversity and unfair treatment: “They are our brothers and sisters who deserve respect and equality above all else.”

On 18 February 2024, Keighley Cougars unveiled a monumental 12×12 metre flag in support of the Trans community in front of a crowd of nearly 4,000 fans. The flag reads ‘Trans Rights are Human Rights’, a powerful symbol of solidarity for a community that has long faced discrimination and marginalisation. Special guests included India Willoughby, the UK’s first trans newsreader, and James Child, the first Super League referee to publicly reveal he is gay.