Penzance RFC formed in 1876, was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club based in

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, 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 ( kw, An Vorladron Gernewek) are a professional rugby union team who play in the Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. Formerly known as Penzance & Newlyn ...

History

1870–1914

The first recorded rugby match in

is from 1870, played in the grounds of Poltair House,

Heamoor Heamoor (formerly Hea) ( kw, An Hay) 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 centr ...

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 Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom (via subsidiary Mercury Communications). The company later off ...

based in

Porthcurno Porthcurno ( kw, Porthkornow, Porthcornow, 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 and an ec ...

.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 ( , 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 ...

(possibly the first opponents),

Hayle Hayle ( kw, Heyl, "estuary") is a port town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately seven miles (11 km) northeast of Penzance. ...

and

Lelant Lelant ( kw, Lannanta) is a village 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 map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' The vi ...

and the club won all their matches with only one

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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 known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, 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 (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

and in 1908 Barrie Bennetts 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 ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a weal ...

and

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

. A year later he was capped twice by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 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.

References

External links

Penzance RFC history

Cornish Pirates home page
{{Rugby union in England Cornish Pirates Cornish rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1876 Sport in Penzance 1876 establishments in England