THE newly-elected Member of Parliament for the district has pledged his support for the town’s only professional sports club, Keighley Cougars.

Conservative Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkley, has hit the ground running by giving his backing to the Cougars, which follows on from his unexpected visit to one of the team's matches last month.

Hot off the heels of his maiden Parliamentary speech, in which he mentioned the town’s famous old club, Moore formally met with Keighley's owners Ryan O’Neill and Kaue Garcia.

He talked about their ambitious plans for the club’s ground and how they intend to develop the Cougars brand over the coming years.

This was not the first time the town’s MP had paid a visit either.

Prior to the meeting, he had seen the Cougars in action when they beat Coventry Bears 68-10 at home in stalwart Josh Lynam's testimonial on January 19.

Moore said: “It was a delight to meet with Ryan and Kaue to hear their plans for the future.

“It was great to learn about their educational outreach programme and I look forward to working with them on this.

“The Cougars are going from strength to strength now Ryan and Kaue have taken over, so it is great to see the pride put back into our only local professional sports team.”

O’Neill echoed those sentiments, saying: “We're delighted that our new MP, Robbie Moore, is pledging his support to the club as he looks to build a better Keighley for us and the town.

“Both Robbie Moore MP and the Keighley Cougars supporting each other in turn allows us to put some pride, innovative ideas and (provide an even better) profile for the town of Keighley.

“We are delighted to be working together and look forward to continue doing so during Robbie's tenure in office.

“The objective of Keighley Cougars is to bring pride and spirit to our town.”