COUGARS are planning a massive Keighley welcome for the visiting Russian team when they hit town next week.

The club is to give away thousands of tickets to local schoolchildren - and have called for advice from Chelsea FC's Russian chairman, Roman Abramovich, to make sure they treat the team well.

"We want to make this a special event for our Russian visitors and a special event for the people of Keighley," said club chief executive Colin Farrar.

The club is also inviting Russia's ambassador to Britain, His Excellency Grigory Karasin, to be a guest of honour at the game.

"It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and our aim is to make it one to remember for everyone involved," Mr Farrar said.

The Russian team, Strela Kazan, are due to arrive in the UK on Wednesday to prepare for the game, but the length of the journey will hardly be a challenge for them. They regularly travel to St Petersburg and Moscow from their home city of Kazan which is 600 miles east of Moscow.

"When I visited the invited me to go with them to an away game, they travelled for 24 hours by bus, played the game, and set off back again," said Russian expert Stefan Hopewell who is helping to co-ordinate the visit.

The Strela club has the backing of the government of Tatarstan, a semi-autonomous state of the Russian Federation, have had held training trips to Dubai.

The city, which is the capital of the region, is a major industrial centre with a population of over 1 million.

"It is a relatively rich part of Russia because the area has its own reserves of oil," Mr Hopewell said.

It is one of the main centres of rugby league in the country and the Strela club were Russian champions for seven out of the first 10 years of the national competition which started in 1991. They were also the first Russian club to take part in the Powergen Challenge Cup.

But before they can start planning for the 'Russian invasion' the team and coaching staff have to prepare for a tough trip to Halifax on Sunday in the Northern Rail Cup.

"We want to build on last weekend's victory over London Skolars and the lads won't need any added incentive for this one.

"Our new Aussie, Daniel Harvey, is definitely up for it because his brother-in-law, Pat Weisner is their captain. There are a string of other players who have been at Halifax including: Matty Firth, David Foster, Richard Mervill, James Rushforth and Danny Ekis and they are all determined to put one over on their old club.

"Last week we ran away with a 38-10 win even though we didn't really click and Skolars played much better than they had against Halifax the previous week. We can certainly play better and there will certainly be more intensity to the game at Halifax on Sunday.

"Now we just want the backing of our army of travelling supporters to really get behind the team," Moorby said.

n A Quiz Night is to be held at the club on Friday, March 11, as part of Phil Stephenson's testimonial year. Entry is £20 for a team of four which includes a pie and peas supper.

Report - Page 16