The Mennaye Field is a sports stadium located in Penzance,

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 ...

, 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.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 ( 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 ...

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 it ...

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 ...

. The club moved, in 2005, to a temporary stadium at

Kenwyn Kenwyn ( kw, Keynwynn) is a settlement and civil parish in Cornwall, England. 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 area w ...

, near

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

and the following year to Camborne Recreation Ground. In 2010 the club returned to the Mennaye Field and announced that the capacity would be increased from its original capacity of 3,500 to the current capacity of 4,000 with 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 a 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 Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

, 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 George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a General (United States), general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Mediterranean Theater ...

took a salute on the bank. The 1st Battalion, was part of the back-up to the initial D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, leaving Penzance on 4 July and reaching

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

the next day.

List of tenants

* 1945 – 2005, Penzance-Newlyn RFC/

* 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 ...

* 2010 – present, Cornish Pirates

First match

* 22 September 1945: Penzance–Newlyn v

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital 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 King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

3 – 15 (att 3,000).

References

{{coord, 50, 6, 47.23, N, 5, 32, 38.26, 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