Cougars featured in the ‘The Times’ magazine. : Mon May 18, 2009 10:04 am
Co-operative Championship One club Keighley Cougars will gain a place in the national media spotlight next Saturday (May 23) when Alastair Campbell’s article about his visit to Cougar Park a couple of months ago will be featured in ’The Times’ magazine.
Campbell, the former official spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair, was brought up in Keighley during the 1960s and when he wrote about his schoolboy ambition to play for Keighley Cougars on his blog, the club picked up on the theme and asked Alastair to join them for a match-day experience.
Alastair, together with his son Calum, attended the Cougars’ opening Co-operative Championship One fixture against Oldham at Cougar Park on Sunday, March 22.
Besides being entertained to lunch by the club, Alastair toured Cougar Park and was even admitted to the Cougars’ dressing room as Head Coach Barry Eaton gave his final team talk before the players went out to take on Oldham. And, in a ground-breaking move, the photographer who accompanied Alastair to Cougar Park was given access to the Cougars’ changing room before and after the game.
Alastair said: “I was really pleased to go back to Keighley and to have the opportunity to see behind the scenes at the club.
“I hope the piece I have written captures something of the spirit of the club, and of the importance of the sport to towns like Keighley. I was impressed by what I saw, but above all struck by the passion and the humanity that keep a club like Keighley Cougars RLFC going.
“I hope the club, and Rugby League followers more generally, like the piece and also that people who do not follow the sport get some insight into it.’
Helen Carter, the Cougars’ General Manager, said: “It was a pleasure to host Alastair and his son for the Oldham game and to give them the inside view of the club’s operational and business life.
“He also had an opportunity to meet our players, coaching and development staff, sponsors and fans. It was also amazing that there were people that attended the game who had been at school with Alastair here in Keighley and they had chance to meet up again.
“It also helped that the team delivered a great performance and we beat Oldham 34-26 to launch our league season in great style”.
Campbell is a massive fan of Burnley FC and the articlde will be published on the same Bank Holiday weekend that the Clarets go in to the Championship play-off final at Wembley and he celebrates his 52nd birthday!
