Cornish Pirates receive bad news ahead of final – Rugby News Update
The Cornish Pirates have been told that they will not be getting any funds from the Cornwall Council cabinet for the development of their 4,000 seat stadium. The cabinet had made the decision earlier, and has decided not to overturn the policy.
The decision has come before the second-leg of their Championship, the first tier of rugby in England, final against the London Welsh. The owner of the Pirates, Dicky Evans was disappointed with the decision, and wanted it to come out after the final. He
said, "We were made aware that this missive was to be released and on Saturday requested that if it had to be said then it should be delayed until after the vital game on Wednesday at Oxford.”
The Aviva Premiership, the top tier of rugby in England has minimum criteria for promotion into the league, and on the looks of it, neither the Pirates nor the London Welsh look to fulfil it. The Pirates had requested £10m of public money to fund the stadium,
but the leader of Cornwall Council cabinet, Alec Robertson has written a letter to Cornwall Community Stadium Ltd (CCS), the consortium behind the stadium, that he will not release the funding.
Evans also attacked the ruling by saying, "By going ahead to upset Pirates players, supporters and S4C (Stadium for Cornwall) supporters in such a way by going public 48 hours before one of the most important games in our club's history clearly confirms
our conclusions that the political survival instinct outweighs any concern for Cornish sport or the future of the Cornish economy."
This is a bad omen for the club, who have been denied the right to promote in the future even if they win the Championship. This year they had not applied for promotion, and this ruling had made them a feeding club for the Premiership. Players have used
clubs in the Championships to gain a transfer to the top tier and it will become increasingly difficult for the Pirates to hold onto their best talent.
With the promotion of London Welsh quashed as well, it seems the top two clubs in the Championship are bound in the first tier for the next season.
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