Million Pound Game: Batley Bulldogs family ‘pulls the community together’

The Bulldogs are 80 minutes away from a place at Rugby League’s top table following their sensational play-off semi-final victory at Featherstone Rovers.

And Kay, who jointly owns K&M Metals Ltd with her brother Michael Whittaker, believes the journey to the Championship Grand Final at table-toppers Leigh Centurions on Sunday October 2, is a reward for everyone at the club’s hard work.

She said: “It was a fantastic game against Featherstone which could have gone either way but they fought right to the end. Me and my daughter, Anna, went with Paul Harrison (Chief Executive) and his family and it was an absolutely brilliant game. We sat behind the sticks with all the fans and it was just an amazing atmosphere. It was brilliant.

“It’s a dream come true for the players, the staff and the fans. Every single person involved at the club puts so much commitment into the club and into the team. It is a credit to everybody.

“I hope the boys pull it off for everybody involved because everyone pulls together as if they are one big family.

“They pull the community together and everybody ranks as a family.”

Kay’s own family life has revolved around rugby league and her connection to the Mount Pleasant club is deepened with her father, Stan Whittaker, playing for the club in the late 1960s and 1970s.

In addition, she also sponsors front-rower Martyn Reilly, who she knows courtesy of their time at Drighlington ARLFC.

She explained: “My dad used to play for Batley and then he started to sponsor them. I know how much it meant to my dad so me and my brother set up K&M Metals and carried on sponsoring the club when my dad sold his business.

“My brothers both played the game and my dad, after finishing playing, got into coaching our local team. With me being the only daughter I had to go along and watch the boys play every weekend.

“I have been brought up with it all my life. I had a son, Joe, and he started playing when he was four. I then got involved with the Drighlington rugby league team when he started playing and now I manage the open age team there.

“Martyn Reilly approached me and asked me if I’d be the manager for the winter team at Drighlington. Martyn coached Joe from the under 15s and me and Martyn got on like a house on fire.

“When I heard that Martyn had signed for Batley this season, I said to Paul that I would sponsor him as well because he is like family to us all.”

But is the main sponsor looking forward to attending the club’s biggest game in years?

"I’m in Lanzarote,” she said. “I never thought when I booked it!”