Keighley Cougars
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| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Keighley Cougars Rugby League Football Club |
| Website | http://www.keighleycougars.com/ |
| Colours |  |
| Founded | 1876 |
| Current details | |
| Ground(s) | |
| Competition | League 1 |
| 2016 RFL League 1 | 6th |
Keighley Cougars is a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in Kingstone Press League 1, the third tier of English rugby league (behind the Super League and Kingstone Press Championship). Their home ground, Cougar Park (originally known as Lawkholme Lane), has an estimated capacity of 7,800. Before the 1991–92 season, the club was known simply as Keighley RLFC.
The club was formed at a meeting held on 17 October 1876 under the presidency of the Reverend Marriner. A committee was elected and the club was allowed the use of Holmes' field in Lawkholme Lane.
The first kick-off took place on Saturday afternoon, 21 October and the committee met again on 24 October and decided to adopt Association and Rugby football laws. On 18 November 1876, the first game took place at Lawkholme Lane. The visitors were Crosshills and although the game ended in a draw, there are records, which say, "the draw was in the visitors' favour".
The first important match appears to have been played on 13 January 1877 against Bingley. Under the scoring system of the day, the visitors won by two tries and two touchdowns to two touchdowns. Keighley also lost a further two games against Bingley.
One of the earliest games of the following season was a fixture with Kildwick on 13 October 1877 when Keighley won by one goal to five touchdowns. Other teams met during that second season were Bradford Zingari, Manningham, Cleckheaton, Leeds Athletic, Skipton and Bradford Juniors. Up to April 1878, Keighley and Bingley had met seven times with Keighley losing every match.
At the annual meeting of the club in 1878, shortly after the headquarters had been moved to Dalton Lane, a second XV was formed. Keighley Athletic were formed on 27 October 1879. There was some rivalry with those who had set up the new club, but a couple of years later these differences had been settled, and on 24 March 1881 a merger was agreed between the two clubs.
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