Cornish Pirates - The sleeping giant of English Rugby?

[Getofmeland]

Just been having a read up on the Press Conference that was held by Josh Lewsey yesterday, and it was interesting to read about his views on Cornish Pirates being the sleeping giant of English Rugby, and the club have the potential to become the Munster of English Rugby.

The media were out in force yesterday to hear the clubs CEO and Performance Director, Josh Lewsey, outline his vision of an exciting future for the Pirates.
“This club has the potential to become the Munster of English rugby. Everybody I speak to can see the potential here, it is a sleeping giant."
Report By Phil Westren
Local media representatives have this week attended a meeting at the Cornish Pirates 'Westholme' clubhouse where they met the club's recently appointed CEO and Performance Director, Josh Lewsey.
Welcomed by media officer Phil Westren, all present were introduced to Josh who then gave a strategic presentation relating to planned developments.
A question and answer session followed when Josh, along with coaches Ian Davies and Harvey Biljon, happily responded to all the questions asked.

Also, to help accommodate all media personnel in a fair and beneficial manner, each had the opportunity to interview Josh and the coaches on a one-to-one basis.
As has been mentioned previously, the club is looking to improve the match day experience for supporters, a full-time Commercial Manager and a full-time Community Manager will be appointed, and various facilities at the Mennaye Field are to be upgraded.
Of extra interest, it is planned to select and coach a team from Cornish clubs to play in the Newquay 'Sevens', and that side will also hopefully later represent the Cornish Pirates at Twickenham in a prestigious Sevens touch rugby event. Further details to be announced in due course.
A pre-season fixture is being arranged versus Saracens in the City of London on Thursday 22nd August, and on Friday 30th August there will be a match under floodlights at the Mennaye Field against a Cornwall Select XV.
These are exciting times and the potential is obvious, and as the Cornish Pirates aim to to strive still further to embrace the whole of the Cornish community, there is a hope to within the next three years or so build a playing squad that is capable of playing in the Premiership.
Josh has commented: “This club has the potential to become the Munster of English rugby. Everybody I speak to can see the potential here, it is a sleeping giant.
“The people of Cornwall can make this happen and as we look to reconnect with the community, every effort will be made to create a positive buzz and progress this club.â€

The content above is from the Pirates Website - http://cornish-pirates.com/12-13_news/josh_lewsey_meets_media.html

 

[LittleGuy]

If Pirates can get their stadium situation sorted I think they could become a lower table premiership club at some point, though also the lack of a sizable city in Cornwall is a hindrance as attendance will have to come through fans coming for some distance to get to games. A couple of years ago it looked like they might get close to something on the ground front but it fell through due to lack of funding. The sport has a solid presence in Cornwall and the Pirates draw OK for a Championship side but would need to draw 3-4 times as many fans to be a viable premieship club.

They have made some good transfers looking forward to next year and with Newcastle probably heading up, the table should be very competetive next season. I see them being in a mix with Bristol, Nottingham, Leeds, Bedford and possibly Welsh(depending on how harsh their offseason is.) to win next season and the management do want to go up if at all possible unlike Bedford.

 

[Getofmeland]

In theory the stadium situation is sorted with the stadium for Cornwall being granted planning permission and funding in place. This would give the pirates a central location. I agree attendance would be an issue, but it's 30 mins from most places in Cornwall to Truro, if they price the tickets right people will come and watch.

 

[McTallshort]

Doesnt half the population live in London for 10 months of the year?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Doesnt half the population live in London for 10 months of the year?

Other way round...

 

[McTallshort]

Other way round...

Are you sure? isnt there whole towns/villages in Cornwell that are completely deserted for most of the year because they have all been brought up by rich folk in London?

 

[Tavi Pirate]

Folks, do not worry about the crowd situation, once we are there, just look out. By the way, I do not see mass numbers turning up for Sale's home games!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Are you sure? isnt there whole towns/villages in Cornwell that are completely deserted for most of the year because they have all been brought up by rich folk in London?

That's a bit of an exaggeration, but yes there are.

That would be why it's the other way around... it's not the population of Cornwall moving to London.

 

[RedruthRFC]

In theory the stadium situation is sorted with the stadium for Cornwall being granted planning permission and funding in place.

Where did you hear this Getofmeland? Planning is granted for the stadium itself, but the project is contingent on many other things that are yet to be rubber stamped, having the land to build the stadium on is contingent on some of these fringe issues. Even if all of this goes well, I've seen no assurance that funding is in place to actually build the thing!

 

[RedruthRFC]

Folks, do not worry about the crowd situation, once we are there, just look out. By the way, I do not see mass numbers turning up for Sale's home games!

Sale get 350% more supporters than Pirates have this year, not an insignificant difference.

I've read lots of posts like yours about the S4C, but most if not all fail to explain why they think that crowds will turn up in big numbers. What makes you / the powers that be think that regular crowds capable of sustaining AP rugby could be sustained? The crowd against Quins and Kenwyn shows that there is potential, but can this be sustained every other week, particularly in the current financial climate when Pirates' current poor gates are attributed to people's relative poverty - if someone can't afford a £15ish trip to the Mennaye, is the lure of AP rugby sufficient to mean that they will be able to somehow afford a £35ish trip to the S4C?

Genuine questions BTW, not trolling from a Redruth man. I'm both pro Pirates and pro S4C, I'm just interested to hear the arguments on both sides of the coin.