History - History 1
A Brief History
Rugby descends from an 18th Century Cornish or Welsh sport known as "hurling" in which a ball was thrown up and the players acting either as individuals or as teams attempted to carry it to a goal. The goal could be set as far as several miles away thereby creating the opportunity for large-scale brawls in intervening villages. In Welsh the sport is called cnapan or "criapan," and has medieval roots. The old Irish predecessor of rugby may be caid, not to be confused with Gaelic "hurling" or "hockey" which has the difference that the ball was hit with a stick rather than carried. Rugby Football is commonly known as "rugby" and as "rugger". In the UK, an old saying goes "football is a gentleman's game played by ruffians and rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentlemen".
Camborne RFC were established in 1878 and are one of the most famous rugby clubs in Cornwall - the club colours are Cherry and White.
The local tin mining industry provided most of the early players, the majority who worked at Camborne's Dolcoath mine which at that time was the deepest mine in Britain. Rugby quickly became established with a large following in Cornwall, as it took much from the ancient Cornish sports of hurling and wrestling, and soon became the focus of Cornish pride. There is no harder form of mining than that which involves cutting through granite and such 'hard rock' mining produced very hard men indeed. These men and their successors did much to establish the game of rugby football in the town and also afterwards overseas, as the mining recession hit Cornwall and miners were forced to take their skills to areas such as South Africa, Australia and North/South America.
The first game was played against Penzance in front of some 600 spectators in November 1877. In 1908 former Camborne player Fred Jackson represented the British Lions on their tour to Austalia and New Zealand and in 1909-10 Camborne were the top Cornish team. During the following season no other Cornish side managed to score a try against "Town" as they were then known.
After the Great War, in the 1920's, a kind of rugby fever swept Camborne. Teams, who in those days changed at hotels in the town, marched to the ground behind the Town band, in a manner almost of matadors. A crowd of 19,000 people gathered in 1924 at Camborne to watch Cornwall {with no less than 7 Camborne players} take on the New Zealand 'All Blacks', and matches against local rivals, Redruth, invariably pulled in crowds of around 6,000. This was the era when Captain Crawshays Welsh Touring XV started to include Camborne on their fixture list in 1923. Crayshays teams were chosen from the leading clubs in Wales, and consisted of seasoned internationals and up and coming players who would usually go on to be internationals. In 1926-27 the Cherry and Whites were again the top club in Cornwall and they got their first win over a Crawshay side.
During the 1930's the team didn't quite reach the same heights, but the club still managed to produce a succession of talented and tenacious local players. With the end of the Second World War the club was back in business and John Collins made his debut for the reserves team in 1946-47 and was selected to play at full back for England in 1952. The 1950's and 60's saw many more fine teams, and Camborne became the first Cornish side in 1968 to beat Ebbw Vale in 18 Cornish tours.
The team's real resurgence however had to wait until the late 1970's when they again became the most consistent and successful side in Cornwall, winning the Cornish league and cup in 1977-78, the league for the next 4 years running until 1982, again league champions 84-85 and 85-86, were the highest placed Cornish national league club 87-88 and 88-89, and achieved further Cornwall Cup wins in 85, 87, 90 and 1992.
Giant lock Andy Reed joined the Cherry and Whites in 1987, who was later to play for the all-conquering Bath RFC team of the nineties and represent Scotland and the British Lions. In 1989 Cornwall reached the final of the County Championship at Twickenham against Durham and were represented by nine Camborne players out of the twenty-one man squad.
When the RFU Courage National Leagues were formed in 1987, Camborne were placed in what was then called the Courage National Division 4 South, which is equivalent to National Division 3 South today, and were the highest placed Cornish team at the time (being one of the top 50 clubs in the National Leagues). There were 11 teams in this league, and they remained at this level until 95-96 when they dropped to South West 1, followed by relegation the following year to South West 2 West, where they remained for the next five seasons. In 2002 Camborne dropped down to Western Counties West but returned to South West 2 West for the 2004-5 season after being promoted as champions.
1987-88 National Div 4 South Final Table
1. Askeans
2. Sidcup
3. Lydney
4. Camborne
5. Havant
6. Stroud
7. Southend
8. Sudbury
9. Salisbury
10. Cheltenham
11. Streatham/Croydon
It is interesting to note that only three teams from the 87-88 league (Lydney, Havant and Southend) still play at this level, while the other teams now play at a lower level. With the advent of professionalism in the second half of the nineties many teams, including Camborne, found their playing strength diminished as players signed with more financially prosperous clubs and as a consequence results suffered. This meant that the need for sponsorship or other methods of funding has become all important to clubs in the new modern professional era of Rugby Union.
An Gwary Ha Tra Nahen
Rugby descends from an 18th Century Cornish or Welsh sport known as "hurling" in which a ball was thrown up and the players acting either as individuals or as teams attempted to carry it to a goal. The goal could be set as far as several miles away thereby creating the opportunity for large-scale brawls in intervening villages. In Welsh the sport is called cnapan or "criapan," and has medieval roots. The old Irish predecessor of rugby may be caid, not to be confused with Gaelic "hurling" or "hockey" which has the difference that the ball was hit with a stick rather than carried. Rugby Football is commonly known as "rugby" and as "rugger". In the UK, an old saying goes "football is a gentleman's game played by ruffians and rugby is a ruffian's game played by gentlemen".
Camborne RFC were established in 1878 and are one of the most famous rugby clubs in Cornwall - the club colours are Cherry and White.
The local tin mining industry provided most of the early players, the majority who worked at Camborne's Dolcoath mine which at that time was the deepest mine in Britain. Rugby quickly became established with a large following in Cornwall, as it took much from the ancient Cornish sports of hurling and wrestling, and soon became the focus of Cornish pride. There is no harder form of mining than that which involves cutting through granite and such 'hard rock' mining produced very hard men indeed. These men and their successors did much to establish the game of rugby football in the town and also afterwards overseas, as the mining recession hit Cornwall and miners were forced to take their skills to areas such as South Africa, Australia and North/South America.
The first game was played against Penzance in front of some 600 spectators in November 1877. In 1908 former Camborne player Fred Jackson represented the British Lions on their tour to Austalia and New Zealand and in 1909-10 Camborne were the top Cornish team. During the following season no other Cornish side managed to score a try against "Town" as they were then known.
After the Great War, in the 1920's, a kind of rugby fever swept Camborne. Teams, who in those days changed at hotels in the town, marched to the ground behind the Town band, in a manner almost of matadors. A crowd of 19,000 people gathered in 1924 at Camborne to watch Cornwall {with no less than 7 Camborne players} take on the New Zealand 'All Blacks', and matches against local rivals, Redruth, invariably pulled in crowds of around 6,000. This was the era when Captain Crawshays Welsh Touring XV started to include Camborne on their fixture list in 1923. Crayshays teams were chosen from the leading clubs in Wales, and consisted of seasoned internationals and up and coming players who would usually go on to be internationals. In 1926-27 the Cherry and Whites were again the top club in Cornwall and they got their first win over a Crawshay side.
During the 1930's the team didn't quite reach the same heights, but the club still managed to produce a succession of talented and tenacious local players. With the end of the Second World War the club was back in business and John Collins made his debut for the reserves team in 1946-47 and was selected to play at full back for England in 1952. The 1950's and 60's saw many more fine teams, and Camborne became the first Cornish side in 1968 to beat Ebbw Vale in 18 Cornish tours.
The team's real resurgence however had to wait until the late 1970's when they again became the most consistent and successful side in Cornwall, winning the Cornish league and cup in 1977-78, the league for the next 4 years running until 1982, again league champions 84-85 and 85-86, were the highest placed Cornish national league club 87-88 and 88-89, and achieved further Cornwall Cup wins in 85, 87, 90 and 1992.
Giant lock Andy Reed joined the Cherry and Whites in 1987, who was later to play for the all-conquering Bath RFC team of the nineties and represent Scotland and the British Lions. In 1989 Cornwall reached the final of the County Championship at Twickenham against Durham and were represented by nine Camborne players out of the twenty-one man squad.
When the RFU Courage National Leagues were formed in 1987, Camborne were placed in what was then called the Courage National Division 4 South, which is equivalent to National Division 3 South today, and were the highest placed Cornish team at the time (being one of the top 50 clubs in the National Leagues). There were 11 teams in this league, and they remained at this level until 95-96 when they dropped to South West 1, followed by relegation the following year to South West 2 West, where they remained for the next five seasons. In 2002 Camborne dropped down to Western Counties West but returned to South West 2 West for the 2004-5 season after being promoted as champions.
1987-88 National Div 4 South Final Table
1. Askeans
2. Sidcup
3. Lydney
4. Camborne
5. Havant
6. Stroud
7. Southend
8. Sudbury
9. Salisbury
10. Cheltenham
11. Streatham/Croydon
It is interesting to note that only three teams from the 87-88 league (Lydney, Havant and Southend) still play at this level, while the other teams now play at a lower level. With the advent of professionalism in the second half of the nineties many teams, including Camborne, found their playing strength diminished as players signed with more financially prosperous clubs and as a consequence results suffered. This meant that the need for sponsorship or other methods of funding has become all important to clubs in the new modern professional era of Rugby Union.
An Gwary Ha Tra Nahen
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