The owners of a rugby league club are to pull out at the end of the season, citing “relentless” homophobic abuse and financial pressure.
Kaue Garcia and Ryan O’Neill took ownership of Keighley Cougars seven years ago, with the aim of transforming the club into an LGBT+ inclusive place.
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But they said after the 2023 season “the volume and intensity of the abuse escalated”, leaving both in need of anti-anxiety medication.
O’Neill said: “I’m very sad to leave, it’s like my family in a way, but we have to take care of ourselves.”
Since becoming owners in Keighley, the married couple have taken steps to show their commitment to the LGBT+ community.
They organized the annual Pride match and created the first sports Pride Terrace where fans could support the team in a “non-discrimination” environment.
Rainbow flags fly over their Cougar Park stadium year-round.
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‘It’s worrying’
In a statement, Garcia and O’Neill said they had both experienced “times of extreme stress and emotional exhaustion”, adding: “At times, the pressure was so overwhelming that we just wanted to get up and disappear.”
Garcia said: “From day one, our gender is always in play.
“It’s always a reason to lose [and] always something that explains how the club is being led in the wrong way.”
O’Neill said he was bullied in supermarkets, received death threats, had his car vandalized more than once and was abused at a game last season.
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He continued: “It seems like there is a group of people who just want to hate us, and whatever we do, they jump in. It’s worrying.”
“When we took over, we were young, energetic and happy [the abuse] it makes you angry and the last month has been the worst.”
Garcia and O’Neill said increased financial pressures and changes to the league’s programming that made it “almost impossible” also contributed to their decision.
The club enjoyed an unbeaten run in 2022, winning promotion to the Championship but have struggled this season with news of the duo’s departure following Keighley’s fifth successive league defeat.
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Despite the abuse, the couple still hold fond memories of their seven years at Cougar Park.
Garcia said: “We created this place, but we needed people to buy the message, and that’s being ignored.”
He said he received direct messages from fans and thanked them for their support.
O’Neill said they made “lifelong friends” during their time at the club and that a group of fans drove an hour to their home, outside Leeds, to bring chocolates and hugs after the news was announced.
“That’s a testament to how good these guys are,” he said.
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O’Neill said the proudest part of her job was talking to young people who spoke to their owners to confide in them about their sexuality, and later seeing them “open and proud”.
“That makes me extremely proud, because it means, sometimes torture is justified.”
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