Cornwall RLFC was a British

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

team based in Penryn,

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 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 ...

. The club competed in the third-tier

RFL League One The Rugby Football League's League One (known as the Betfred League One) is the third-highest division of rugby league in British rugby league system, Britain. It is also the lowest level of professional rugby league in Britain. Introduced in ...

from 2022 to 2025, when the club withdrew from the league and ceased operations mid-season.

History

2019–20: Ottawa Aces

It was first announced in March 2019 that a consortium from Canada, led by

Toronto Wolfpack Toronto Wolfpack RLFC is a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club is the first and only professional rugby league club in North America, and as of 2023 competes in the self sponsored Canada Cup, an invitation ...

founder Eric Perez, had purchased the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

membership of club

Hemel Stags The Hemel Stags are an amateur rugby league club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. They were semi-professional and played in Betfred League 1 from 2013 until 2018. They withdrew from the professional system when their licence was purch ...

and planned to relocate their licence to Canada. More due diligence took place during 2019 to decide if the club was ready to join League 1 for the 2020 season along with the New York City Rugby League, however at the end of July 2019 it was announced that the club would not enter the league in 2020 and would instead work towards joining the league in 2021. On 9 March 2020, Ottawa announced they would push back their debut season and enter League 1 in 2021. However, due to travel restrictions between Canada and the United Kingdom resulting from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Aces and the RFL agreed to defer entry to the League 1 another year again, until 2022. Come March 2021, it was announced Ottawa would compete in the newly founded North America Rugby League along with the

, however Perez said the club still expected to play in League 1 in 2022 and suggested the club could play as a 2nd team in the NARL. On 22 October 2021, it was announced that Ottawa Aces would relocate back to the United Kingdom permanently due the "unstable operating environment" of running a club in the British leagues from Canada during a pandemic. They would also withdraw from the NARL effectively disbanding as the Ottawa Aces.

2021–25: Relocation to Cornwall

On 2 November 2021 the club was officially relocated to Penryn,

and rebranded as Cornwall RLFC. The club were allocated a place in League 1, the third tier of the

British rugby league system The British rugby league system is based on a five-tier structure administered by the Rugby Football League. Professional clubs The following is a list of professional and semi-professional clubs in the British rugby league system: *''*capaci ...

. On 8 December 2021 it was announced that Neil Kelly had been appointed as head coach, and

Anthony Mullally Anthony Winston Mullally (born 28 June 1991), also known by the nickname of "Vegan Warrior", is a former Ireland international rugby league footballer who last played as a for Cornwall in Betfred League One He has previously played for Fren ...

, a former Super League winner with

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

international was the first player signing. On 25 June 2022, Cornwall earned their first competitive win defeating

West Wales Raiders The West Wales Raiders were a semi-professional rugby league club based in Llanelli, Wales. They competed in RFL League 1, League 1, the third tier of the British rugby league system, from 2018 until 2022. The club was founded in 2015 as an ama ...

22–4. It was their only win of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. in October 2022, Mike Abbot took over as head coach having previously been the assistant to Neil Kelly.

2024–25: Cornish ownership and financial trouble

On 27 November 2024, the consortium led by Eric Perez sold the club to Cornish businessman Kenny Stone. Stone aimed to make the

RFL League 1 The Rugby Football League's League One (known as the Betfred League One) is the third-highest division of rugby league in Britain. It is also the lowest level of professional rugby league in Britain. Introduced in 2003 as National League 2 i ...

side a community-based club. However, on 2 April 2025 it was announced that Cornwall RLFC had folded due to financial issues. Their last match was a 78–6 defeat by

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

at Penryn - a record home loss.

Coaches

* Neil Kelly 2021–2022 *

Mike Abbot Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

2022–2025

Seasons

References

External links

* {{League 1 Rugby league teams in England 2021 establishments in England Rugby clubs established in 2021 Rugby league teams in Cornwall Penryn, Cornwall 2025 disestablishments in England Rugby clubs disestablished in 2025