Whilst I agree with all of the comments about 'partnering', if we can't beat them then we have to join them - or be left behind.

Check the Keighley News website for this:

ok then which 2 cas players do we think we'll see on sunday, I reckon 2 from these 3
Nathan Massey
Jordan Tansey
Steve Nash

Well that's me finished . I shall not darken the doors of Cougar Park again.

Amateur RL for me from now on.

Sorry to say this but your club has now lost it's ambition as have the other clubs who have gone down this route.

It will bite your club on the bum.

Your attendances will be hit by this as will other foolish clubs who have gone down this route.

We play Hunslet Sunday. They will play 2 Leeds players who have been in the game too long to have qualified under the old style DC agreements.

You aren't Keighley Cougars anymore you are Castlefords Cougars.

I completely agree with you.

What the hell are the board of our club thinking? You've done exactly what the cartel of clubs that is Super League and their puppets at the RFL want you to do, roll over and have your belly tickled like a little biatch.

I'm glad I haven't bought a shirt or a season ticket for this season, I don't think i'll be going to many games.

Feel sorry for you fans i would be gutted if Rovers went down that route, were luck we dont have to at the min, but i still reckon your better with your own players they didnt do Swinton much good, the players you get will just go through the motions to get some game time depriving one of your own a game, it stinks

I am personally glad about the partnership.

How many of our players are Keighley lads. A percentage.

With the injuries we have, if the Club stood back and did nothing we would be playing with one hand behind our back.

I for one would not look forward to a season in Championship 1.
Infact, I think it would all but kill the club.

We are not Castleford Cougars, we are Keighley Cougars with a
couple of players on loan.

It may not please everybody, but I think it will be a good business decision
and hopefully those who want Cougars to survive will continue to support
the Keighley lads.

Did we say the same to Leeds Rhinos Jake Normington when he scored 2
tries for us in the last Grand Final. He was a loan player.

Like many fans I would have liked to have kept keighley cougars from becoming a feeder club and I like everyone else agreed that that is what we wanted to do.

However as time has gone on and more clubs have signed up to this idea I have felt we were getting way out of our depth here, would the cougars be able to rise to the challenge of beating not only the best of the championship but some of the best of the superleague too, answer, NO, we would have finished towards the bottom, most probably being relegated and losing what little fan base we have.

I say, bring it on, we either join them or shut up shop, JD knew the score with becoming a feeder club as the RFL wanted to run the same system as the NRL, and JD made us all aware of it.

Mickey, I agree with your comments, the last thing I want to see is the demise of the cougars through relegation, at least we will get to watch good rugby in the newly formed Keighley Cougars.

We should be thanking Castleford

Out of interest, How many superleague teams are left to buddy up to exactly?

Anyone who didn't see this as inevitable from the day the youth structure and dual regs were announced was naive. I would love to standby our principles and what is right for the game and not ize "our" team with SL players but in the current climate not to do so would be lunacy. Ultimately our principals however laudable would cost us our club! What we can do is keep developing our youth in the hope that one day we become strong enough both financially and in playing staff to afford our principals. Those that attended the PIRAG meeting where we discussed this subject had it brutally outlined to us by JD.
I still believe and have "Pride in the Red & Green"

Will it help you financially when away fans dont come because of this ?

With respect you will end up as a feeder club where Cas will decide who out of their squad they think would benefit from a game at Keighley rather than doing nothing.

This is a foolish decision which will see the end of fans turning up to watch Cas reserves (why would they ?) rather than Keighley Cougars. I could understand it if you supported Cas. Not just getting at you but also at other clubs who have also gone down this ridiculous route.

The RFL who have allowed this to come about should hang their heads in shame. They are incompetant short sighted idiots who will bring about the Championships demise. I despair. It is not a conspiracy theory to say they are RFU plants.

very disappointed with this decision by Keighley and the RFL.
I was looking forward to this season but I am now going to think long and hard about whether I want to spend my time and money watching a feeder club. It as been said it was naive to think we could continue without the support of super league but can we continue without a dream.

Really sorry to hear that. But i am not surprised to be honest.

I was speaking to two long time Keighley fans today. They both said they are not going down any more. Makes you wonder how many more will say enough is enough.

Isn't it great to see such undying support from 'Obeone' and 'Stealth Comic' and the comments posted by 'Salfordlad' and the 'ex-Leigh Director' (according to his RLFans profile) 'Starbug'.

If you truly are a 'Cougar' then you must accept that you have to move with the times - as I said in my opening 'post'.

Had we not agreed a partnering role with Castleford then we would have been playing uphill, as we were in the first half last week at Batley. We have to ensure that we play on as level a playing field as is possible or sink into the oblivion which is 'Championship 1'!

I've been supporting Keighley and the Cougars for over 50 years as have my children, for almost 20 years. JD was amazed when I told him this last year and I felt that he realised how much Keighley and the Cougars meant to TRUE fans and supporters, who I believed that 'Obeone' and 'Stealth Comic' were. Possibly 'Stealth' is only a 'Comic' and not a supporter?

I have no time whatsoever for Salford, nor Leigh as they have had their chances in Superleague (and Salford still do), so why do they pass such comments?

The alternative is for 'Obeone' and 'Stealth Comic' to invest in the Club so that their principles can be maintained and ensure that the Club is successful.

Watch that video with your coach.

Cas fans are being encouraged to watch your team

Oh yeh they'll replace your real fans won't they ?

I have mixed feelings. Partnering is generally the wrong way to go, but that's not going to stop me watching Keighley. I hope Marchy can maximise on his time with Ian Millward and that our players can learn from the experience of the players that come our way. It is a one year partnership which therefore gives us the option of being independent again if we can at the end of it. I would like Keighley to be great without any help but at the moment that's not going to be possible. Of all the clubs it could have been I'm glad it's Castleford. Ultimately I would struggle to find the motivation to make the the 200 mile round trip to Keighley to watch us lose.

Looks like Leigh fans like 'Starbug' so much that he has to come onto our Forum!

[codehttp://rlfans.com/search.php?keywords=starbug&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search[/code

and I won't pass any comment on 'Salfordlad'

I asked a simple question , and made a general comment on the way all the Championship Clubs are reacting to decisions being made by SL clubs and the RFL

You mention the ' oblivion ' of Championship 1 , I agree completely , the RFL have made it a league of death for any heartland club , unfortunatly 2 clubs will be dropping into it either way , with or without a SL partner

I dont generally post on the Leigh board , especially about Leigh matters because I am highly disattisfied by the current management at the club , they lack insight into what makes fans ' tick ' and how many of the idea's used in the past will not work , a new blank page is needed ,and a passion and determination on a new level to build the club , the Keighley Club once did exactly that , it need to be done again

This is NOT that way , this is contraction , not expansion

Feel free. I am a passionate RL Fan who supports Leigh.

I have watched them for 57 seasons. I could go and watch Wigan if I so choosed as I can get there even quicker than I can get to the LSV.

Should my club go down this route' quite honestly I would have to stop going to our games.

I watch Leigh home and away.

This twinning/partnership/licencsing/franchising is crazy and must be stopped not condoned or all clubs will be gone soon.

So every Tuesday the coach of Cas will tell P.March which players are available. So Cas are only going to offer us people they want to get ready to play for them.

The big deciding factor for me will be when we have a enough players fit to play. I really do wonder when that happens how many Cas players will get a game.

We have some very good young players coming through the system. How are these lads going to feel when all there hard work comes to nothing. Because someone player from cas is getting a game instead of them?

I understand both sides of the argument and if people now want to boycott that is up to them. As I have said on another thread, I don't agree with it, but I think we were stuck between a rock and hard place. We don't have a large enough budget or resources like Fax, Leigh or Feav so I feel we had to do something to compete. They may perceive themselves are large enough to go it alone. I'm afraid we are not.

I'm very much going to view is as player loans which has been ongoing for years.

I think Marchy has been open about it and didn't want to use it, but I suppose felt is hand was forced.

The logic on here is a bit odd.

People who say they support the Club.

The Club has a situation put upon them by the RFL. As all Clubs have in Championship.

Do we sink or play on a level playing field. One said he would rather see his team loose every week.

I think you would soon get feed up of that.

Cougars did not create this situation and yet they have had to adapt.

And yet some people think the way to protest about the RFL is to boycot / punish your own
club. People want a winning team. Sorry but if players are not available options have to be
explored.

It isn't Marchy's magic show.

Where do you suggest we get players who are fit enough to compete soon enough to stop us being left a mile behind during this injury crises?

Some of the young talent coming through would be up to C1 level but for Championship a lot of them need a little bit more time.

Who if they were in Marchy's job employed to make a winning team would have done something different?

This goes much, much deeper than any one team.
This is about the integrity of the league we are in.

We could go down at the end of the season. Because Cas only make there poorer players available to us. Yet Dewsbury could stay up because they get as many of the best Bradford players they want. Far fetch but possible.

And just because other teams are doing it does not make it right.

Some people are so blinkered because they are only thinking about Keighley. That they cannot see the bigger picture.

From reading this and the related thread, I think most, if not all, disagree with the concept of this so I don't think people are blinkered at all.

So you are saying Stealth and I are not TRUE fans,you don't even know me so do not judge me.If I wanted to watch SL players I would travel to Bradford or Leeds but I don't.
Within 2 years Keighley will be Castlefords 'A' team,watch this space.

I will not spend my hard earned money watching SL players getting a runout at CP to get some game time coming back from injury or whatever,that just sticks in my throat.

Do you really think that these players will put their bodies on the line for Keighley?They get paid no matter the result.