Penzance RFC formed in 1876, was a
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 ...
club based 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, ...
, England. They amalgamated with
Newlyn RFC in 1944 to form Penzance and Newlyn RFC (The Pirates), currently known as 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 ...
.
History
1870–1914
The first recorded rugby match 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 ...
is from 1870, played in the grounds of Poltair House,
Heamoor
Heamoor () is a village in Cornwall, England. Formerly a secondary settlement of the village of Madron, Heamoor is situated approximately one-and-a half kilometres (just over a mile) northwest of Penzance town centre.
The village is in the ci ...
and organised by W Borlase of
Marlborough School. The Penzance team was mostly public schoolboys, home on holiday, and the opponents the
Eastern Telegraph Company based in
Porthcurno
Porthcurno (, meaning ''"pinnacle cove"'', see below) is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil parishes in England, civil and an ecc ...
.
[Batten, B G (1978) ''Newlyn, Penzance and the Pirates.'' Penzance: Penzance & Newlyn Rugby Football Club.]
The club, formed in 1876, played for a few seasons, did not flourish and was restarted in 1883, by J B Cornish who acted as secretary, treasurer and captain.
[Westren, P, Thomas, J and Matthews, H (1995) ''50 Golden Years.'' Penzance: Penzance & Newlyn RFC.] The club initially played in claret and blue but soon changed to black and white in varying styles. Fixtures in their first season (1877–78) included
Redruth
Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...
(possibly the first opponents),
Hayle
Hayle (, "estuary") is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately northeast of ...
and
Lelant
Lelant () or Uny Lelant is a village in the civil parish of St Ives in, west Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the west side of the Hayle Estuary, about southeast of St Ives and one mile (1.6 km) west of Hayle.Ordnance Survey: Landranger ...
and the club won all their matches with only one
try was scored against them. At the 1878 AGM it was stated that it would be desirable if all the players should wear the same colour jerseys!
Arthur Trounson (
full back) was the first player to win a
Cornwall cap when picked to play in the first (recorded) match against
Devon
Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, at
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
on 12 January 1894, which was lost by two goals and three tries. Club captain Cornish was to win the first of his six caps, a year later, in 1885 and captained Cornwall on two occasions in 1886–87 and 1889–90. Success finally came to the club, fourteen years after they were founded, when the Cornwall Rugby Cup was won in two consecutive seasons (1896–97 and 1897–98); the second one unbeaten against Cornish clubs. By now the Cornwall selectors were increasingly picking Penzance players for Cornwall; on one occasion five players playing in the same match. By the
Great War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, thirty-eight different Penzance RFC players had represented Cornwall winning over two hundred caps between them.
1920–1945
Fixtures between Penzance and Newlyn were hotly contested and sometimes suspended. Between 1929 and 1932 matches between the clubs were cancelled, a big loss of income to both clubs and one they could not afford. In 1930 the club had a deficit of £58 for the season, in 1933 a balance of 1/3d and by 1936 there was a vote on whether Penzance RFC should continue. The club did continue and so did the poor finances and at the 1939 AGM the club had only 17 shillings. Suggestions of an amalgamation with Newlyn were considered premature by that club and the start of the Second World War put an end to club rugby for a few years. In November 1944, after a public meeting,
Newlyn RFC agreed to hold talks with Penzance RFC with a view to amalgamation. A subsequent Penzance RFU committee meeting on 21 November agreed to wind up the rugby club; and at a public meeting at the Guildhall on 12 December 1944 it was agreed to start a new club. Penzance-Nelwyn RFC was born.
Honours
*
Cornwall Senior Rugby Table winners (4): 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1903–04
Playing record
Grounds
A number of playing fields were used around Penzance including the a field at Trereife (from November 1886), Alexandra Grounds, Coombe Lane (Heamoor), St Just Road (Alverton) - until April 1905, and St Clare from the start of the 1905–06 season.
Finally in January 1934 a sub-committee was formed to negotiate with the Borough Council the use of the
Mennaye Field
The Mennaye Field is a sports stadium located in Penzance, Cornwall, 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 and Newlyn RFC ...
s as a rugby ground.
Internationals
Barrie Bennetts
It is considered a great honour to be invited to play for the
Barbarians
A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice.
A "barbarian" may ...
and in 1908
Barrie Bennetts
Barzillai Beckerleg Bennetts MBE, also known as Barrie Bennetts (14 July 1883 – 26 July 1958) born in Penzance and was a Cornish rugby union player who played at international level, touring Argentina with the 1910 Combined British rugby u ...
was invited to join the annual tour to South Wales playing against
Penarth
Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay.
Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...
and
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
.
A year later he was capped twice by
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and in 1909 selected to join
John Raphael's,
1910 Combined British team's tour of Argentina, playing in Argentina's first international test. An injury robbed him of the chance to play in the
1908 Olympics
The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...
when Cornwall, as
County Champions, represented Great Britain in the games.
Combined British Team to Argentina
* Barrie B Bennetts
England
* Barrie B Bennetts
Cornwall
Fifty-two players from Penzance RFC were picked to represent Cornwall with six of them going on to be captain.
[Salmon, T. 1983. ''The First Hundred Years''. Illogan: Cornwall Rugby Football Union.]
Key: Name in gold indicates the player captained Cornwall on at least one occasion
Other Penzance teams
* Abbey School Football Club – played in 1879
* Causewayhead United – played in the Town rugby cup
* St John's Bible Class – played in 1898
* Black Watch (1 drop goal, 2 tries, 10 pts) beat Scarlet Runners (2 tries, 6pts) in the replayed tie of the 1902 Penzance Junior Town Cup.
See also
*
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 ...
References
External links
Penzance RFC historyCornish Pirates home page
{{Rugby union in England
Cornish Pirates
Rugby union teams in Cornwall
Rugby clubs established in 1876
Sport in Penzance
1876 establishments in England