A rugby league club has been forced to change the wording of its couples promotional offer for discounted season tickets for an “adult male and female” – after a gay and lesbian group claimed it may break discrimination laws.

Bradford-based Equity Partnership, which supports the district’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgender communities, hit out at Keighley Cougars after it posted its latest October deal on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

The deal originally read: “COUPLES SPECIAL – an adult male & female can secure 2 ground access season tickets for £300.”

Rebecca Hewitt, chief executive of the Equity Partnership, said the club should remove the deal and replace it with one which applies to couples of all sexualities, which it has now done. She said: “I am not entirely sure that this is compliant with equality legislation because, on the face of it, it seems to exclude lesbian and gay people.

“They need to change their publicity and not put this out there. If you are offering a deal for a couple, it has to apply to all sorts of couples.”

She said that she had been “surprised” by the offer, particularly at a time when the Rugby Football League (RFL) – the sport’s governing body – is running its Tackle It campaign in a bid to stamp out discrimination and homophobia in the game.

She said: “What they do not seem to be able to do is apply this programme to how clubs work with fans and acknowledge that fans can be homophobic but they can also be lesbian and gay as well.”

When contacted by the Telegraph & Argus, Keighley Cougars chairman Gary Fawcett said the club was concerned that straight men would pretend to be gay to take advantage of the offer.

A spokesman said the specific promotion had been to encourage more women to watch matches, boosting crowds at the club’s home ground, Cougar Park and reducing the number of “rugby widows.”

Mr Fawcett said the club said it would honour the promotional offer for gay and lesbian couples and “clarify” the wording of the offer on its website.

He said: “Our concern was that if we simply stated ‘Cougar Couples’ then non-gay adult males would team up and potentially take advantage of the discount, which is not the point of the promotion.

“We did clarify on Facebook that gay and lesbian couples are perfectly entitled to take advantage of the discount and we are more than happy to receive them at the club.”

A spokesman for the RFL said: “The RFL is pleased to learn that this was simply an oversight by the Club and that this offer is open to all couples, including gay couples. The RFL encourages clubs to be fully inclusive and reach out to all supporters and this offer is an excellent example of encouraging more supporters from across the whole community to come along to their local club .”