Buddy up? No, Pirates want promotion
CORNISH Pirates will not sacrifice identity on the altar of financial expediency by ‘buddying-up’ with a Premiership club, their chief executive Peter Child has insisted.
Under radical proposals from the RFU, which The
Rugby Paper understands will be presented to Championship clubs in the next fortnight, tier two sides will be encouraged to enter partnership agreements with Premiership clubs in return for extensive use of their players.
In an effort to cut costs, Championship clubs agreeing to ‘buddy-up’ would be allowed to utilise up to12 top-flight professionals, plus an unlimited numbers of academy players, but would automatically debar themselves from competing for promotion.
Ambitious Pirates have no appetite for such a scenario, with Child telling
TRP: “We understand what is happening and while ‘buddying-up’ might be right for some clubs, we want to be masters of our own destiny and push for the Premiership.
“Our existing links with Exeter are great and there’s no reason why we can’t continue with a dualregistration arrangement, but we want to retain a clear identity and, where possible, we want to have Cornish players playing for us in the Premiership.”
Work on a new Stadium for Cornwall to make promotion possible has yet to start in Truro.
However, Child, right, said: “All the planning is there, the council want it to happen and once we’ve got the retail people signed up, we can really crack on.
“Our mission is threefold: success on the pitch, which we’re seeing; sustainability; and a Stadium for Cornwall by 2019. Our sponsorship for next season is looking strong and there’s huge enthusiasm around Cornish rugby to make all this happen.” Meanwhile, the effect of having London Irish’s allstar team in the second tier has manifested itself through increased average gates at all six Championship sides they have visited. Cornish Pirates, Bedford, Nottingham, Rotherham, London Scottish and Richmond have benefitted from Irish’s large travelling support, with Pirates’ gates up 30.3 per cent.