COUGARS chairman Gary Fawcett will today meet with a leading sports lawyer as he weighs up a potential legal challenge against the Rugby Football League following the club's relegation.

Paul March's side were condemned to the fifth and final relegation place on Sunday with a dramatic 26-24 defeat by Featherstone, who scored a last-gasp try.

Rivals Batley preserved their status courtesy of a 34-10 win over Doncaster to stay up by a solitary point.

Fawcett is adamant the decision to not punish Batley for fielding an ineligible player has led to Cougars' relegation from the Championship.

The Cougar Park chief is questioning how the Bulldogs were effectively unpunished for breaching dual-registration rules and fielding an ineligible player during a win against Sheffield on July 27.

John Kear's side were deducted three points by an RFL operational rules tribunal for playing Jacob Fairbank, who had failed to meet the minimum requirement of three matches on dual registration to make him eligible, with the second-row scoring a try in the 28-18 win.

But that sanction was quashed on appeal after the club had provided "fresh evidence relating to previous historical breaches of operational rules by other clubs which had not faced similar sanctions".

The ruling, and the subsequent end to the season, has left Cougars fuming, with Fawcett outlining his intentions in a statement ahead of a meeting today with Richard Cramer of Leeds-based firm Front Row Legal.

There is a sense of irony in that when Cougars were excluded from Super League almost 20 years ago, having won the right to be in the upper echelons of the competition, Cramer conducted the case on the club's behalf.

While Cougars did not succeed, they nevertheless took the challenge to the High Court.

Subsequently, clubs were forced to revote on the back of the High Court decision which then resulted in a substantial improvement in the TV package from News Corporation to the tune of £10million.

Fawcett said: "We've taken advice from our local solicitor, Waddingtons, and are seeing Richard Cramer on Thursday morning.

"Clearly we have a very strong case because the players in question were ineligible, Batley and Doncaster were guilty and that the three points should have remained deducted under the rules that we all played to.

"If we didn't play to the rules we might as well take a rugby ball down to the local park and have a kick around without a referee."

Doncaster also escaped punishment for the same offence and Fawcett highlighted the recent Champions League case involving Celtic and Legia Warsaw, who were thrown out of the competition by UEFA for a similar breach of rules.

"It is agreed that Doncaster and Batley broke the rules and fielded ineligible players, one of which, Jacob Fairbank, scored the winning try for Batley during the game in which he was ineligible," said Fawcett.

"For breaching this rule, Batley and Doncaster were found guilty and deducted three points by a disciplinary panel – which were somehow, miraculously, reinstated the following week and, as far as we know, neither club has been punished at all.

"There is no publicly available information informing us why the points were reinstated. May I remind the reader that when the same thing happened in football earlier this year, the team in question were thrown out of the competition."

Fawcett said Cougars were continuing to press on with their plans for next season despite the uncertainty surrounding the club in light of any possible legal challenge.

Winger Paul White signed a new one-year deal on Tuesday and player-coach March is also signed up for next term.

"We've not put the signing of players on hold pending the outcome of the process we are going through," said Fawcett.

"In order to have a competitive squad next season, it is imperative that we sign players now.

"Marchy has his budget and he is talking to the players at the moment.

"I was very gratified when our players were wanting to sign up on Sunday evening in readiness for next season.

"Whatever happens, our guys will be ready and waiting for the challenge."