Mennaye Field
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The Mennaye Field is a
sports stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
located in
Penzance Penzance ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the westernmost major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated in the ...
,
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, UK. The ground was provided by the Borough of Penzance for the Penzance and Newlyn RFC formed on Tuesday, 12 December 1944 with the amalgamation of
Penzance RFC Penzance RFC formed in 1876, was a rugby union club based in Penzance, Cornwall, England. They amalgamated with Newlyn RFC in 1944 to form Penzance and Newlyn RFC (The Pirates), currently known as the Cornish Pirates. History 1870–1914 The f ...
and Newlyn RFC.Batten, B.G. (1978) 'Newlyn, Penzance and the Pirates.' Penzance: Penzance & Newlyn Rugby Football Club. The current tenants are the
Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
team, who play in the
RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...
. The club moved, in 2005, to a temporary stadium at
Kenwyn Kenwyn () is a settlement and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The settlement is a suburb of the city of Truro and lies 0.5 mi (1 km) north of the city centre, within Truro parish, whereas Kenwyn parish covers an are ...
, near
Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
and the following year to Camborne Recreation Ground. In 2010 the club returned to the Mennaye Field and announced that the capacity would increase from its original 3,500 to 4,000, including 2,200 seats.


History

The first mention of playing rugby in the Mennaye Fields was in January 1934 when a sub-committee was set up to negotiate with the Borough of Penzance for the tenancy of the fields; finally granted in 1945. The ground was equi-distant between St Goulder (Newlyn's ground) and St Clare (Penzance's ground). General Dwight D Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe inspected American troops on 26 June 1944 at the Mennaye. Soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 35th Division had been billeted with families in Penzance. The troops marched along the promenade to the Mennaye where Eisenhower, along with General George S Patton, took a salute on the bank. The 1st Battalion, was part of the back-up to the initial
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
landings on 6 June 1944, leaving Penzance on 4 July and reaching
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
the next day.


List of tenants

* 1945 – 2005, Penzance-Newlyn RFC/
Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...
* 1945 – 1973, Mounts Bay RFC (under-18) * 1974 – present, Pirates Colts * 1999 – 2009,
Mounts Bay RFC Mounts Bay RFC was a Cornish rugby club formed in December 1999 and based in Penzance, England, which folded in July 2009. Initially formed as an offshoot from Penzance & Newlyn RFC, the club operated as an independent club. Mounts Bay were pr ...
* 2010 – present, Penzance-Newlyn
Amateurs An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History H ...
* 2010 – present, Cornish Pirates


First match

* 22 September 1945: Penzance–Newlyn v
Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...
3 – 15 (att 3,000).


References

{{coord, 50, 6, 47, N, 5, 32, 38, W, region:GB, display=title Rugby union stadiums in England Rugby union in Cornwall Sports venues in Cornwall Sports venues completed in 1945 Sport in Penzance Cornish Pirates Buildings and structures in Penzance 1945 establishments in England