A Rugby League Club are fighting climate change

Rugby league club are fighting climate change

Keighley Cougars, a Rugby League Club up North are leading the fight against climate change off the pitch. They are becoming the first sports club in the world to plant a tree for every shirt the club sells during the league season.

A Rugby league club are fighting climate change. The Cougars, who play in Betfred League 1, showed off their brand new kit at a launch this week.  The kit features a leaf motif and a slogan that reads “there is no planet B” on the front of the shirt. They also address their sponsors: Timothy Taylor’s, Acorn Stairlifts, Airedale Shopping Centre, GM Engineering, Ultimate Commercial Interiors and John W Laycock. The shirt also features the Progress Pride Flag on one sleeve, to show they’re in support of the LGBTQ+ community. The club are always trying to promote inclusivity within the game and their efforts highlighted that when they became the first sports team in the world to wear the flag on their kit.

A short while ago, the club teamed up with MoreTrees, who work with tree planting partners across the world to restore healthy forests and reduce poverty. As well as hiding CO2 emissions, MoreTrees’ work will help to provide co-benefits in the areas where it operates, such as improving water filtration, shelter, food sources, poverty alleviation and biodiversity.

Ryan O’Neil is the club co-owner and director

He said: “In recent years Keighley Cougars’ shirts have pushed the boundaries and promoted equality. Our shirts are a powerful platform and in addition to being popular with our fans, we now regularly sell them to people across the UK. They like our designs and what the shirts stand for. It’s a fantastic endorsement for what we’re doing”.

“Our new tree planting initiative is particularly exciting for Keighley Cougars. Everyone knows there are huge benefits to planting trees, and this is a way for our club and our fans to play a part in the fight against climate change, as well as supporting a community and an environment, in another part of the world, that will really benefit from our help”.

“We’re extremely proud to provide our support and with the help of our fans, we’re looking forward to planting thousands of trees over this coming season”.

The Rugby League club fighting climate change say the Keighley Cougars’ shirts can be bought on match days at Cougar Park and online at https://keighleycougars.uk/shop. They cost £35.