KEIGHLEY Cougars can today reveal our full fixture list ahead of the 2022 Betfred League 1 season.
As revealed yesterday, we begin our league season on Sunday 27th March as we head across the Pennines to face relegated Oldham RLFC in Round One.
However, the first competitive game of the fixture will take place on the weekend of the 29/30 January when the 11 Betfred League 1 clubs join 13 community clubs in the Second Round of the 2022 Betfred Challenge Cup.
The weekend after the Oldham game sees us open our home campaign with a blockbuster tie against Doncaster RL with the sides meeting for the first time since the Dons dramatic victory over the Cougars last month in the Final Eliminator.
Our first bye week follows the visit of Doncaster, the other coming in late July, with the Cougars returning to action in Round Four with the short journey to Hunslet RL on Good Friday for the traditional Easter weekend derby.
And our opening month of the season is completed the following week as the other side relegated from the Championship, Swinton Lions, visit Cougar Park.
The return fixture against the Lions will mark our first ever visit to their current home of Heywood Road, with that game taking place as a part of Round Eighteen in early August.
Cornwall are the third and final new faces to the division for 2022, our historic first ever meeting to take place on Sunday 12th June in Round Eleven as the Cougars make the long journey south to Penryn.
The black and gold’s make the return journey north to Cougar Park the following month, with both fixtures against the Cornish outfit 1pm kick-offs.
The journey to the southwest comes a week after Rhys Lovegrove’s side visit Colwyn Bay to renew rivalries with the North Wales Crusaders after the three pulsating meetings between the two clubs in 2021.
And the re-branded Midlands Hurricanes new home of Portway will also provide a new venue in which to follow Keighley with our first trip to Birmingham coming in July after a Hurricane blows through Cougar Park in late May.
The Cougars run-in begins following our second bye weekend, and after the trip to face Swinton in Sale a tough run of fixtures concludes our regular season.
Hunslet visit Cougar Park before a trip to the Keepmoat Stadium to face Doncaster.
The regular season then concludes with North Wales Crusaders the final visitors to Cougar Park on August bank holiday weekend with the following weekend brining the curtain down with a trip across the hill to face the Rochdale Hornets at Spotland.
Please note that all fixtures are subject to change.
KEIGHLEY COUGARS 2022 FIXTURES:
Challenge Cup Round 2 | OPPONENT TBC
Sunday 30th January | Venue: TBC | Kick Off: TBC
Round 1 | OLDHAM RLFC
Sunday 27th March | Venue: TBC | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 2 | DONCASTER RL
Sunday 3rd April | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 3 | BYE WEEKEND
Round 4 | HUNSLET RL
Friday 15th April | Venue: South Leeds Stadium | Kick Off: 7:30pm
Round 5 | SWINTON LIONS
Sunday 24th April | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 6 | LONDON SKOLARS
Sunday 1st May | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 7 | WEST WALES RAIDERS
Saturday 7th May | Venue: Stebonheath Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 8 | ROCHDALE HORNETS
Sunday 15th May | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 9 | MIDLANDS HURRICANES
Sunday 22nd May | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 10 | NORTH WALES CRUSADERS
Saturday 4th June | Venue: Stadiwm ZipWorld | Kick Off: 5:30pm
Round 11 | CORNWALL RLFC
Sunday 12th June | Venue: The Memorial Ground | Kick Off: 1pm
Round 12 | OLDHAM RLFC
Sunday 26th June | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 13 | WEST WALES RAIDERS
Sunday 3rd July | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 14 | LONDON SKOLARS
Saturday 9th July | Venue: New River Stadium | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 15 | CORNWALL RLFC
Sunday 17th July | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 1pm
Round 16 | MIDLANDS HURRICANES
Sunday 24th July | Venue: Portway | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 17 | BYE WEEKEND
Round 18 | SWINTON LIONS
Sunday 7th August | Venue: Heywood Road | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 19 | HUNSLET RL
Sunday 14th August | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 20 | DONCASTER RL
Sunday 21st August | Venue: Keepmoat Stadium | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 21 | NORTH WALES CRUSADERS
Sunday 28th August | Venue: Cougar Park | Kick Off: 3pm
Round 22 | ROCHDALE HORNETS
Sunday 4th September | Venue: Crown Oil Arena | Kick Off: 3pm
Fixtures Subject To Change
By Joshua Chapman