Keighley Cougars owners question Catalans Dragons’ success

   18/04/2023

KEIGHLEY COUGARS have been the most outspoken opponents to IMG’s proposals to ‘re-imagine’ rugby league with owners Ryan O’Neill and Kaue Garcia outlining just why they have been so outspoken.

“I feel it’s worse than I expected,” owner Ryan O’Neill said when the plans came through last month.

“You’ve got to have a PHD in astrophysics to understand the grading system they’ve put in place.

“It’s not sport. It’s so technical that it’s going to turn the fans away in droves.

“What you are creating is an elite cartel, it’s elitist and they are protecting the few. They want to get to 12 Category A’s and once they get there, that’s it.

“They are taking away the opportunity, we won’t be given the opportunity to get 10,000 fans against St Helens because they are going to be protected. They will be the elites.

“It’s either IMG’s way or the highway.”

And after taking to social media, the Cougars owners took aim at Catalans Dragons – the French expansion side that has won one Challenge Cup and reached one Super League Grand Final in its very short existence.

The Cougars owners first shared a video outlining why they are opposed to IMG plans:

In response to a Wigan fan explaining why Catalans had offered so much to rugby league in the past two decades, one Keighley owner Kaue Garcia, tweeted: “Yeap. Catalans Dragons are adding a lot to the sport Alex. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 ‘Huge success’ as you say.”

Garcia also enclosed a photo of the time that the Dragons made it to the Challenge Cup Final and beat the Warrington Wolves back in 2018, with the crowd of just over 50,000 making it the worst attendance final since the Second World War.