Rugby union in Cornwall is

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, ...

's most popular spectator sport with a large following. The followers of the national side are dubbed Trelawny's Army. In 1991 and 1999 Cornwall won the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

final played at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

, beating

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

respectively to win the Cup. They had another strong spell in the 2010s, reaching seven of the eight finals contested between 2013 and 2022 (meeting either

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

on every occasion), winning four of them. Cornish rugby has produced many fine players who have played at the international level, including Phil Vickery, Trevor Woodman and Graham Dawe (England), Stack Stevens (England and

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

), Andy Reed (Scotland and the Lions), and many others. The Cornish rugby team can also boast an Olympic silver medal: in 1908, they won the County Championship for the first time and the prize was to represent Great Britain at rugby in the

1908 Olympic Games 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 ...

. They lost to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

32–3 in the final, and remain the only county side to represent Great Britain at rugby in the Olympics.

CRFU

The Cornwall Rugby Football Union (CRFU) was formed on 15 October 1884 at a meeting held at the Royal Hotel in Truro. The meeting was attended by representatives from clubs at Redruth, Falmouth, Penzance, Truro, Hayle & Tregony. It is a union of 37 rugby union clubs which includes most rugby union clubs in

Affiliated clubs
on CRFU, retrieved 29 Sep 2019 (St Columba and Torpoint RFC is a member of the

Devon Rugby Football Union The Devon Rugby Football Union is the sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union in the county of Devon in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Devon, and administers and organis ...

), the open-age Cornwall representative side and representative teams at various age groups. The CRFU are members of the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

(RFU), the governing body for rugby union in England. The CRFU organises three annual knockout cup competitions – the Cornwall Super Cup, Cornwall Cup and Cornwall Clubs Cup, with the Cornwall Cup stretching back to 1967. The Cornwall Super Cup is played between the Launceston and

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, ...

(doubling up as

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

league games between the sides), the Cornwall Cup is for teams based between tiers 6 and 12 in the English league system and finally the Cornwall Clubs Cup is for teams in the regional Cornish leagues. The Cornwall Cup used to be the premier competition with the top sides such 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 ...

, Launceston, Mounts Bay and Redruth taking part but has been superseded in recent years by the Super Cup, itself downsized to just the two teams due to the demands of the modern game both in terms of fixture congestion and the increased physical toll on players. All cups are currently sponsored by Tribute Ales.

History

The Cornish rugby tradition has deep roots, stretching back before the game was even codified. A form of folk football, known as

Cornish hurling Hurling () is an outdoor team game played only in Cornwall, England, played with a small silver ball. While the sport shares its name with the Irish game of hurling, the two sports are completely different. Once played widely in Cornwall, the ...

was highly popular there, and is still played in two towns in Cornwall. It is possible that the former popularity of this game paved the way for the rugby code. Cornwall's original colours were yellow and red hoops on black jerseys. these were soon changed to yellow and black squares. During the 1894-5 seasons the side played in white jerseys, finally adopting the current black and gold hoops in the 1895-6 season. Cornish Rugby has had the honour to have played host to many international touring rugby teams over the years including

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, New Zealand Māori,

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Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the USA,

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and the Soviet Union. Cornwall rugby 1908

One of the most important times of the year in a Cornish rugby fan's calendar is the County Championship. Like the 1900 games, three teams entered:

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

(representing

and

, and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

(which included the whole of the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the union of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into one sovereign state, established by the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801. It continued in this form until ...

). France pulled themselves from the event prior to the commencement of the tournament, being unable to field a representative team. Cornwall won the championship for the first time in 1908, when they played in front of 17,000 fans at

. The game was against Durham, also known for its mining, this time coal not tin. Cornwall won the game 17–3, scoring 5 tries. The added incentive for the winner was the chance to represent

at the

1908 Summer 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 ...

. The choice of Cornwall was controversial, as only three of their players had ever represented

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 ...

, as well as the fact that Australia, who had been on a tour of the United Kingdom, had defeated them 18 points to five. Two other countries entered the

and

, the name of a combined team from Australia and New Zealand. France withdrew before the tournament which left Great Britain (Cornwall) playing Australasia. The final score was 32–3 to Australasia with Bert Solomon managing to score a try for Great Britain. Australasia's team, the Wallabies, was already on tour in Britain, while the best Anglo-Welsh players were on tour in New Zealand at the time. Great Britain was therefore represented by the Cornwall county team, who were chosen by the RFU as an appropriate side after they defeated Durham in the 1907 English county championship. As expected, Australasia defeated Great Britain, claiming the gold medal, the score being 32 points to three. The match at the White City Stadium was played under poor conditions, in

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

and with a slippery field. Cornwall reached the Championship final again in 1909, 1928, 1958, 1969 and 1989 but had to wait until 1991 before re-claiming the trophy. In a final that most Cornish fans will remember forever, Cornwall played

at Twickenham in front of 54,000 fans, the majority of which were supporting Cornwall. In a game that had everything, Cornwall found themselves trailing at 16-3 down after 54 minutes, having been tricked when Yorkshire ran a penalty that the Cornish believed they had indicated to kick. Cornwall fought back to draw level at 16-16 after 80 minutes, and even missed the conversion that would have given them victory in normal time. The game then went into extra time when Cornwall managed to continue their scoring. The final score was 29–20 to Cornwall which sent the fans into a state of total elation. Richard Nanckivell's two tries were the inspiration that they could win and Tommy Bassett and Billy Peters put the icing on the cake in extra-time for Cornwall's first title since 1908. Cornwall managed to reach the final again in both 1992 and 1998, losing both, and it was not until 1999 when they met Gloucester in the final that Cornwall managed to win the Championship again. Cornwall play most of their home games at Redruth R.F.C. and

Camborne RFC Camborne RFC was established in 1878, known locally by fans as 'Town', are one of the most famous rugby union clubs in Cornwall. They are currently champions of Regional 1 South West, a level five league in the English rugby union system and ar ...

but matches have also been played at Penzance & Newlyn and Launceston. The premier club side in Cornwall are the

(recently renamed from Penzance & Newlyn RFC) 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 ...

. They are hoping to increase their fanbase by appealing to Cornish nationalist sentiment to help them gain promotion to the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

. Launceston Rugby Club ("The Cornish All Blacks") have recently (2007 season) been promoted to the National Division One. Redruth R.F.C. ("The Reds") play in National Division Two and also get good support.

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay () is a bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, England, stretching from the Lizard Point, Cornwall, Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin of name of the bay. ...

have this season 2007–08 began their campaign in National Division Three, South, leading the league for the entire season they are at season end promoted to National Division Two for the 2008/09 season. The other major Cornish club sides who play in the South West 1, 2 West, Western Counties West and Cornwall & Devon leagues are

Bude Bude (, locally or ; Cornish language, Cornish ) is a seaside town in north Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as ...

Camborne Camborne (from Cornish language, Cornish ''Cambron'', "crooked hill") is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, C ...

, Falmouth, Hayle, Newquay Hornets Penryn,

St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...

, St. Ives, Saltash,

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

Wadebridge Camels Wadebridge Camels RFC is a rugby union club based in Wadebridge, Cornwall which has been in existence since 1955. They play at Molesworth Field. History Wadebridge played in the Tribute South West 1 West, for four seasons having won promotion ...

Motto

Fethy Po Fyllel An Gwarry Ha Tra Nahen! ( Cornish for "Win or Lose, The Game and Nothing Else" !)

1908 Centenary celebration match

As part of the centenary celebrations, the

British Olympic Association The British Olympic Association (BOA; ) is the National Olympic Committee for the United Kingdom. It represents the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), but also incorporate represen ...

arranged a match between

and 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 ...

which was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

on 3 December 2008. The Barbarian players, who normally wear their club socks, all wore black and gold socks to represent Cornwall, in a game which Australia won 11–8.

Cornish International and touring club friendlies

* New Zealand 1905, 1924 (at Camborne RFC) * Australia 1908 (twice) - GB Olympic Silver medal (at Camborne RFC and White City Stadium) * South Africa 1906, 1912 (at Redruth RFC) * Maoris 1926 (at Falmouth RFC) * Sélection française 1969 (at Clermont Ferrand) * France "B" 1970 (at Redruth RFC) * Comité de Rugby du Lyonnais 1971, 1972 (at Vienne and Camborne RFC) * Romania 1972 (at Redruth RFC) * USA 1977 (Cornwall won 12–11) (at Camborne RFC) * Canada 1979 (at Redruth RFC) * South African Barbarians 1979, 1993 (at Camborne RFC and Redruth RFC) * Japan 1986 (at Camborne RFC) * NZ Barbarians 1987 (at Redruth RFC) * Soviet Union (12–12) 1989 (at Redruth RFC) * Ulster 1991 (at Redruth RFC) * Ulster 1992 (at

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

) *

Crawshays RFC Crawshays Welsh RFC is a Welsh invitational rugby union team. In 1922 Captain Geoffrey Crawshay was invited by the Engineer Commander of Devonport Services, SF Coopper, to bring a team of Welsh rugby union players to play Devonport Services R. ...

(at Camborne RFC) * Diok 1993 (at

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

) * Hilversum 1993 (at

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

) * Impalas 1993 (at

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had ...

) * Cork Constitution 1993 (at Redruth RFC) * Canterbury (NZ) 1994 (at Camborne RFC) (Cornwall players have also represented Cornwall & Devon and South-West Division teams)

County Championship finals

As of 2022 Cornwall have won the Bill Beaumont Cup (County Championship) seven times: 1908, 1991, 1999,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, 2022. Since 1984 the finals have been played at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

Players with 50+ caps for Cornwall

* 102 Tony Cook * 88 C. R. Johns; 86 P. J. Hendy; 83 C. B. Stevens; 70 Richard Jackett * 69 D. Weeks; 68 J. May; 67 R. G. Corin; 65 J. Atkinson; 64 G. Bate; 62 R. F. S. Harris; 61 R. Jennings; 60 H. Stevens; 60 P. J. B. Mitchell * 56 R. Keast; 56 A. Bick; 55 T. A. Pryor; 54 T. Bidgood; 54 R. W. Hosen; 54 G. Williams; 53 C. J. Durant; 53 P. J. Winnan; 52 T. Palmer; 52 Nicholas Tregurtha; 52 K. C. Plummer; 51 A. L. Semmens; 51 G. Champion; 50 John Jackett; 50 A. Williams; 50 B. J. Trevaskis; 50 K. Thomas

Cornish players to have toured with the British and Irish Lions

* E. J. Jackett ( Australia and New Zealand 1908) * J. Davey (Australia and New Zealand 1908) * F. S. Jackson (Australia and New Zealand 1908) * B. B. Bennetts ( Argentina 1910) * R. Jennings ( Australia and New Zealand 1930) * V. G. Roberts ( Australia and New Zealand 1950) * M. C. Thomas (Australia and New Zealand 1950 &

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

) * R. A. W. Sharp ( South Africa 1962) * C. B. Stevens ( Australia and New Zealand 1971) * A. Reed ( New Zealand 1993) * P. A. Vickery ( Australia 2001, South Africa 2009) * J. T. Nowell ( New Zealand 2017) * L. A. Cowan-Dickie ( South Africa 2021)

Affiliated clubs

There are currently 37 clubs affiliated with the union, most of which have teams at both senior and junior level. * Bodmin * Bolingey Barbarians *

* Camborne School of Mines * Camelford * Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service *

* Falmouth * Hayle RFC *

Helston Helston () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the The Lizard, Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: ...

* Illogan Park * Isles of Scilly * Lankelly-Fowey * Lanner * Launceston * Liskeard-Looe * Liskeard Leopards * London Cornish * Newquay Hornets * Penryn * Penzance & Newlyn * Perranporth * Pirates Amateurs *

* Redruth Albany * RNAS Culdrose * Roseland * Saltash * St Agnes *

* St Ives * St Just * Stithians *

* Veor *

Cornwall club competitions

The Cornwall RFU currently runs the following competitions for clubs in

Leagues

* Tribute Cornwall/Devon (alongside Devon RFU) – league ranked at tier 8 of the

English rugby union system Men's Rugby union in England consists of 106 leagues, which includes professional leagues at the highest level, down to amateur regional leagues. Promotion and relegation are in place throughout the system. Women's Rugby union in England consi ...

for clubs that are based in either Cornwall,

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 ...

and occasionally

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

* Cornwall League 1 – tier 9 league *

Cornwall League 2 Counties 3 Cornwall (formerly known as Tribute Cornwall League 2) is an English level nine rugby union league for clubs based in Cornwall. The champions and runner-up are promoted to Counties 2 Cornwall (formerly Cornwall League 1); there is n ...

– tier 10 league

Cups

* Cornwall Cup – initially founded in 1896, currently open to clubs between tiers 6-8 * Cornwall Clubs Cup – founded in 1897, open to clubs at tiers 9-10

Discontinued competitions

* Cornwall Super Cup – founded in 2007, and ran irregularly until 2017. It was open to the top Cornish national league clubs (tiers 4-5 of the

Notes

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby Union In Cornwall