Cornish Pirates makes 'great strides' in survival bid

Cornish Pirates’ players have been told that their contracts will now be honoured until the end of the season after the club attracted new investment.

A statement on the club’s website confirmed that the break clause on player contracts has been lifted and that the team will be able to see out the season in the Championship.

The Pirates declared at the start of the season that they only had enough funds left to honour contracts until the end of December, as the pot of money in Dicky Evans’ ‘sunset plan’ was fast running out.

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In March 2022, Evans, the club’s majority shareholder, announced that he would be ending his investment in the club after nearly three decades of bankrolling the Pirates but had left them £2.5 million to tide them over whilst new investors were sought.

But the financial picture now is a lot brighter with the Pirates’ deficit having been reduced from £500,000 to £200,000, alleviating fears that the Pirates might go the same way as former Championship rivals Jersey Reds and Premiership outfits Wasps, Worcester and London Irish and go bust.

Cornish Pirates CEO Sally Pettipher commented: “Confirming that break clauses were recently lifted from the players’ contracts, I can add that the team at Pirates have made great strides in commercial development and, while we’re not over the line yet, with current and upcoming initiatives I was confident enough to give the players that security.”

Pettipher confirmed that talks are ongoing with several parties regarding the takeover of the club, however, the lack of certainty over central funding beyond the end of next season is a potential stumbling block to getting a deal over the line.

Relieved that the players’ jobs are safe, Pettipher said she can now “sleep at night” but added a word of caution: “But that does not mean that with these background issues, we’re safe.”