A bumper £75,000 grant to Keighley Cougars has to be repaid by them after after the Government-backed SportsMatch organisation claimed rules were broken.
Cougars were praised as a go-ahead club when the award was announced back in November 1994.
At the time Magnet, the Keighley-based international joinery company, joined forces with Whirlpool, an electrical goods company, to back the rugby club's community programme. Together they were due to set up the Whirlpool-Magnet Foundation, which was designed to provide grass roots coaching, education and community initiatives.
The two companies were putting up half the £150,000 cost of the scheme, and their money was matched pound-for-pound by the SportsMatch organisation. Cougars received the maximum grant of £75,000 and were the first rugby league club to be granted a top award. But SportsMatch later discovered that Magnet was not involved.
It is understood that SportsMatch has now recovered the £75,000 from Magnet who are now seeking to recover the money from the club.
Cougars chairman Mr Howard Carter - who was not involved with the club at the time of the SportsMatch deal - said: "We are trying to discover exactly what the situation is."
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article