Cornish Pirates chief admits promotion is impossible

[TRF_Olyy]

Cornish Pirates chief executive Rod Coward has admitted there is no chance of the team playing in the Premiership next season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/13079067.stm​

If they were to win does that mean that there would be no relegation, or do they give it to the next highest squad that is eligible?

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Got to get past London Welsh first which won't be an easy task.

In reality Worcester should get promoted, they are strong for the league and I think they would fair better than some of the bottom tabled sides.

 

[Teh Mite]

Everyone said that about Bristol last season though!

It'll be an almighty effort to get past Wuss this year, they've done a Saints/Quins type rebuild going down and are probably stronger now then they were in the Premiership.

Would be financially suicidal for them to not seek alternative arrangements outside of Cornwall though if they did make it up. This smells like a typical bit of BBC tabloid sensationalism.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

Everyone said that about Bristol last season though!

It'll be an almighty effort to get past Wuss this year, they've done a Saints/Quins type rebuild going down and are probably stronger now then they were in the Premiership.

Would be financially suicidal for them to not seek alternative arrangements outside of Cornwall though if they did make it up. This smells like a typical bit of BBC tabloid sensationalism.

True but Worcester are a better squad than what Bristol had. But the same statement is true.

The Pirates must serious look at adding 7,000 seats if they can to the ground they are currently on. Be pretty crappy if they did win it all and failed to go up because of facilities. But then you feel that if it did happen then they would add the extra 7,000 seats and the facilitates needed.

 

[Teh Mite]

It's not a case of adding a few extra seats, the mechanics of fitting that many seats into their site is the issue.

The "stadium" (for want of a better word) is effectively a normal rugby club on the back of a housing estate. To put the facilities such as Parking, Seats, Facilities (bogs, food, beer etc) and everything else there is just about impossible.

 

[SelimNiai]

Instead of punishing clubs for all their good work during the season why dont the RFU, its a radical concept I know, help these clubs out instead. Im sure if it was Leicester, Sarries et al in the same situation theyd help. They did for Bath few years back, as soon as they were in trouble suddenley Rotherhams ground wasnt good enough

 

[Teh Mite]

No co-incidence that Newcastle are in pole position for the drop.

 

[Getofmeland]

There is a campaign in progress to get a stadium for Cornwall, so if they don't get it this year then they should be able to gain promotion in a couple of seasons time

http://stadiumforcornwall.com/

 

[Shaggy]

Instead of punishing clubs for all their good work during the season why dont the RFU, its a radical concept I know, help these clubs out instead. Im sure if it was Leicester, Sarries et al in the same situation theyd help. They did for Bath few years back, as soon as they were in trouble suddenley Rotherhams ground wasnt good enough

I know that the administration setup and Rugby politics are a bit different, but my home provincial side (Nelson Bays), was denied promotion to what is now the premier division of the ITM cup, despite winning promotion, because the ground facilities were not deemed to be up to scratch. The NZRU at the time would not help out ... it wasn't until they revamped the competition and combined Nelson Bays with neighboring Marlborough to form the Tasman Makos, that the ground was upgraded. As a result, Nelson was able to step in and host some of the Crusaders home games in Super Rugby, and to host some of the World Cup games this year.

... My points are, that its sometimes better in the long run for the national union to help out the newly promoted side financially (World Cup game in Cornwall in 2015 perhaps), and maybe the club itself could pull its resources with a neighbouring club to form a combined side for the premiership only ... just a suggestion, not sure if its workable or not

 

[Getofmeland]

Considering Cornwall lives on Rugby... they do require some investment into the game down there...

 

[Nielsch]

Ah that's too bad. I like the Cornish Pirates. It makes sense though, their "stadium" is really not up to Premiership standards, even if the standards would be lowered significantly. Anyway, it would be cool if the RFU would help them out. Or - as Cornwall is considered a Celtic Nation - they could join the Magners League.