KEIGHLEY COUGARS have gone back to the future by resurrecting a traditional kit design as they target a brighter campaign in the new merged second tier.
The West Yorkshire side, who finished second-bottom of League One, will wear white shirts with red and green chevrons (the change is green with red chevrons).
Last season’s first-choice shirt was South Sydney Rabbitohs-style red and green hoops.
Next year marks the 150th anniversary of Keighley’s formation, initially as a rugby and football club, with the round-ball game now being played at Cougar Park by Northern Counties East League football team Eccleshill United, previously based in Bradford and now under the Cougars’ ownership.
Keighley moved to their current ground, which was then known as Lawkholme Lane, in 1885 and joined the Northern Union for the breakaway competition’s sixth season in 1900-01.
There was a Wembley appearance in 1936-37, when Widnes were 18-5 winners in the Challenge Cup final (on that occasion, the runners-up wore all-red shirts).
The Cougars (that suffix was added in 1991) have introduced the motto “we honour our past to build our future”, and have added three new members to their Hall of Fame in Peter Roe, Gary Moorby and Phil Larder.
Keighley-born Roe started his playing career as a centre at the club before joining Bradford, then had three spells there during a nomadic coaching career.
Former Leeds and St Helens forward Moorby also both played for and coached the club.
Meanwhile ex-Oldham back and England and Great Britain coach Larder was at the helm during the height of the Cougarmania period, when Keighley controversially missed out on a place in the inaugural Super League in 1996.
Attendees at the induction included Mick O’Neill and Mike Smith, the duo behind the innovative Cougarmania phase, when success on the pitch brought rising attendances.
Now running the club are O’Neill’s son Ryan and Kaue Garcia.