‘The haters lost’: Keighley Cougars owners announce sale U-turn after outpouring of fan support (EXCLUSIVE)
The owners have reversed their decision to leave the rugby league club, telling Attitude the response from supporters left them "overwhelmed"
By Dale Fox
Kaue Garcia and Ryan O’Neill will stay on as owners of the Keighley Cougars rugby league club reversing a decision to leave the West Yorkshire rugby league club at the end of the 2026 season.
The married couple confirmed the change on 30 June, two weeks after saying that years of homophobic abuse and financial pressures had led them to choose to sell the club. They cited an outpouring of support from fans, sponsors, volunteers and the town’s MP, Conservative Robbie Moore, as the reasons for their change of heart.
“The haters lost,” Garcia told Attitude. “When we announced we had had enough, it unleashed the silent majority.”
Garcia and O’Neill took control of the Cougars in 2019. They made history as one of the only out gay couples to own a professional sports club. The pair also own Eccleshill United, a non-league football club they bought in 2025. The football club had formed part of the planned sale.
The club, which in 2024 appointed India Willoughby as the first transgender patron of a professional sports team, is frequently targeted on social media with discriminatory comments. It has also previously drawn criticism from J.K. Rowling and Martina Navratilova.
“We only realised this weekend our fans were with us”
Garcia explained that their fans’ response caught them off guard. “The level of support from the fans has been overwhelming,” he said.
“They held a rally on the pitch before our game on Sunday, putting up banners around the ground, and mounting a social media campaign to make us change our minds.”
He added: “We thought the fans, at best, tolerated us.
“Sport club owners typically have an awkward relationship with the fan base. We only realised this weekend our fans were with us.”
Asked how it felt to receive such overwhelming positivity from the club’s fanbase , Garcia said: “Overwhelmed. We always knew we had a nucleus of support, but we had no idea it went beyond that.”
When the pair announced their exit, a group of supporters even visited their home to try and talk them out of the decision.
“The evening we announced we were leaving, a group of fans drove to our farm, a three-hour round trip, knocked on our door, gave us hugs and flowers,” Garcia said. “We sat in our living room, drinking Prosecco until the early hours.”
“The club is the best part of Keighley”
The Cougars don’t turn a profit, with the owners saying they put their own money into the club to keep it running at a loss, as well as putting in countless hours personally handling the maintenance and running of it. Garcia said he and O’Neill keep funding the club regardless.
“If we don’t, it dies,” he said. “The north of England has for decades had people and governments give up on it. We see the deprivation in the town. The club is the best part of Keighley, it helps people, if we can help a single person, it is worth every penny.”
Under the couple’s ownership, the Cougars won the League 1 title in 2022 and staged rugby league’s first Pride fixture. The club also introduced rainbow kits and a dedicated Pride-coloured terrace.
Asked what had kept them going since 2019, Garcia said: “One another. We live and work together 24/7. This closeness makes us understand one another, before the other even speaks.”