ANOTHER year, another goodbye to an outpost rugby league side!
Cornwall have withdrawn from League One and joined the ever-lengthening list of clubs that have tried, and failed, to expand the game beyond its M62 heartlands.
While their ultimate demise may not have been a great surprise to many, the timing of their decision certainly was.
The Choughs had already played three of their four scheduled opening matches – with their round one trip to Workington postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. Despite picking up a home win against strugglers Newcastle, a 68-0 loss at Rochdale and a 78-6 defeat to Whitehaven at The Memorial Ground signalled that the first professional club in the Duchy were in for another tough year.
But it still came out of the blue when, on Wednesday, 2nd April, the club released a statement which read: “Regrettably, the club will be withdrawing from Betfred League One with immediate effect, with the recent match against Whitehaven its last. The scheduled fixture away to North Wales Crusaders on Sunday will not take place, nor will the club fulfil its remaining 2025 fixtures.
“The club’s current ownership group, who gained control of Cornwall RLFC back in November, immediately sought further investment to try and stabilise the club and to grow the game of rugby league in the Duchy, through a professional club.
“Significant progress was made with potential overseas investors to achieve this although sadly, due to the current uncertainties in the United States of America, this has not been possible.
“The club have subsequently explored other avenues to secure required funding, but these have been extensively exhausted, leaving Cornwall RLFC with no option other than to withdraw immediately.”
Let’s face it, if that had been released 24 hours earlier most of us would probably have initially assumed it was a cruel April Fools prank from a parody account.
But no, true it was, and questions were immediately asked as to how this situation was allowed to unfold in a professional sporting environment.
At least when West Wales Raiders and London Skolars, and many others before them, withdrew from the RFL’s competition they knew beforehand that the finances were not in place so made the decision to call time on their days in the professional ranks.
While I do admire, in some respects, the owners’ optimism that they could find the necessary funds needed to keep going, with rising global costs on just about everything, and money within the game dwindling, it was perhaps inevitable that something would eventually have to give.
The knock-on effect obviously impacts the rest of the league, with teams facing more blank weekends in what is already a stop-start season for most. Add to this the financial aspect of the loss of a home match, and other clubs could be left feeling the pinch. I can’t imagine too many League One clubs were banking on an influx of Cornwall supporters making the trip up north for their fixture with them. Still, the match day ticket sales, merchandise sales, and food and drink sales from their supporters will have been factored in when the moneymen were working out their budgets for the year. And those clubs who had already booked their travel and accommodation to the south-west for their away game against Cornwall could find themselves even more out of pocket as well.
Almost a month on from the announcement and, at the time of going to press, we had still not had confirmation from the governing body what was to happen with those three early Cornwall results – suggesting the RFL might not have known too far in advance that the decision was being made. We assume they will be expunged and the league table amended accordingly and, given it’s only three results, it shouldn’t have huge ramifications on how the League One table will look later in the year.
As we know, this isn’t the first time a club has called time on its foray into the professional game, and I can almost guarantee it won’t be the last – but why do we keep getting it so wrong?
Perhaps we just lack any long-term forward planning. Take the NRL for example, we already know that a Papua New Guinea side will enter that competition in 2028 and it is looking increasingly likely that the Western Bears will make their return a year earlier. These clubs won’t sit on their hands between now and then, they will be proactive, make sure all the necessary funding is in place, do their research on what to expect and they will build a team that can compete with the very best in that league.
What a stark contrast to Cornwall being given the green light to enter League One just five months before their first-ever game, or Newcastle being formally admitted back into the competition five weeks before starting last season with an 1895 Cup game against York. Goole were given a little longer to plan for this season, but only by a couple of months. Can you see a pattern emerging?
The RFL have already made it clear they are planning for a ‘three leagues of 12’ structure from 2026 onwards and this year’s play-off structure in the Championship and League One allows for that, but with Cornwall gone, one more team now needs to come in to make the numbers add up.
Please RFL act now and make the right decision for the game. I would urge the new structure be delayed for another 12 months, and switch to a 12-team Championship and 11-team League One for 2026, but start deciding now who is to become the new club to come in the following season.
Give them a fighting chance of making a success of rugby league expansion rather than becoming its next victim.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 508 (May 2025)
