London Cornish RFC is a rugby union club which was originally formed for Cornish expats in London. It was established in 1962 by a group who met in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

's Cock Tavern, and were originally known as the ″Cornish Exiles″. The club changed its name to ″London Cornish″ shortly thereafter and played occasional fixtures in a variety of locations until moving to the current ground, the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields just off the A3 and the current venue for the Rosslyn Park 7s. These grounds have been rented to the club ever since by Wimbledon and Putney Common Conservators. The club moved their once a week training venue to

Rosslyn Park FC Rosslyn Park Football Club is a rugby union club based in south west London. History Founded in 1879 by cricketing friends in north London, at the end of their first season, Charles Hoyer Millar proposed forming a football club to keep the p ...

's all weather surface at the start of the 2016–17 season, and their post match venue to the Roehampton CC Clubhouse at the same time. With no direct and sustainable sources of income, the club relies upon sponsorship and fundraising to survive. The advent of the league system saw London Cornish join the Middlesex leagues and there they stayed until the season of 1997–98 when the club transferred to

Surrey 3 Counties 3 Surrey is a rugby union competition covering the English county of Surrey and parts of south-west London. It sits at the ninth tier of the English rugby union system. The teams play home and away matches from September through to A ...

. After one season in the new league, London Cornish saw improvements, achieving four promotions in seven years. A decade at level 7 followed, but following two play-off defeats when finishing 2nd in London 2 South West in 2014–15 and 2015–16, London Cornish stormed to the title in 2016–17, registering the league's first ever 22 match unbeaten season in the process. Since 2017–18, with the club playing at its highest ever level, Cornish have retained their place in Level 6 London 1 South. In 2022–23, following a league reorganisation, Cornish will play in the newly formed

Regional 2 Thames In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

division. London Cornish run three teams, all of which compete in leagues and in 2022–23 will launch a Minis section. The current Director of Rugby and Head Coach,

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...

born Dickon Moon, has been in the role since 2003, having joined the club from

Old Patesians RFC Old Patesians Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The club currently play in Counties 3 Gloucestershire North following their voluntary relegation from Regional 2 Severn. As well as the first XV, the ...

. Dickon was voted Middlesex RFU Volunteer of the Year in 2014 and was awarded the Paul Smales Medallion for 'Services to Cornwall from a Cornishman living outside Cornwall' in 2015, the citation given for 'Outstanding service to Cornish rugby'. From Dec 2021 he is supported by Head Coach Paul Spivey.

Honours

champions (2): 1997–98, 2001–02 * Surrey 2 champions: 2003–04 * Hampshire 1 v Surrey 1 promotion play-off winner: 2004–05 * London 2 South West champions: 2016–17

References

Cornish Rugby and Cultural Identity: a socio-historical perspective
by Andy Seward

External links

Official site
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1962 Cornish rugby union teams Rugby union clubs in London

Honours

See also

References

External links