The visit of Keighley-born former Prime Ministerā€™s spokesman Alastair Campbell to Keighley Cougars on Sunday has been hailed as a major success for the club.

Campbell attended yesterdayā€™s Co-operative Championship One fixture against Oldham which the Cougars won 34-26 to establish their credentials in this yearā€™s competition.

Helen Carter, the Cougarsā€™ General Manager, said: ā€œAlastair spent all afternoon at Cougar Park with his son Callum. They were guests of the club and told us afterwards that they had enjoyed the occasion.

ā€œAlastair is writing an article about his return to his home-town and the club for a planned feature in ā€˜The Timesā€™.

ā€œWe had an opportunity to show him all the work that is going both on and off the pitch here in Keighley and he seemed particularly impressed with our community programme.

ā€œAlastairā€™s sporting preference is normally soccer and Burnley FC, but when mentioned us on his blog and said he once had ambitions to play for Cougars, it was just too good an opportunity to miss.

ā€œBesides spending time with our Board of Directors Alastair met the players and coaches, the club staff and fans and they enjoyed meeting a Keighley man who has achieved so much in his professional life.

ā€œThere have been discussions about him returning to Cougars at some future date to train with the players and look in greater depth at the clubā€™s operationsā€.

Campbell also gave interviews to many of the media representatives who attended the game. Added Carter: ā€œThis too helped the club because it added to the profile of the occasion.

ā€œAlastair drove all the away from London for his visit to CougarPark and weā€™re really grateful he could spare us his timeā€.

Sounds like he is definitely doing his bit for the club, and not all self publicity as is sometimes the case with those involved in politics.

Fine work by the club