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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
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| Rugby legend, John Collins, reminisces |
| 7 December 2006, 3:28 pm |
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| This season's Heineken Cup final at Twickenham Stadium may not seem a million miles away to Cornish rugby fans, but the prospect of a trip to English rugby's HQ used to force one of Cornwall's finest rugby products into a major logistical exercise... |
The Heineken Cup Trophy Tour spent three days in the county last week and took four ex-England internaitonals to Land's End to illustrate the fact it is only 282 miles to Twickenham from the furthest point west in the country.
Listen to the interview with John Collins by clicking here
One of the famous four was Camborne legend John Collins, who made his first trek to Twickers as long ago as 1947. That was as part of a supporters trip from his home town club of Camborne, while five years later he made the journey for a different reason.
 Now 78, John remains the only player from Camborne RFC to be capped by England and was delighted to recall the methods by which he travelled to London as both a fan and a player.
"My first trip was with my Dad as a fan on the supporters bus from Camborne to see England play Scotland in March, 1947. We left early on Friday morning and arrived at 10.00pm that evening," said John.
"It was a near 14 hour coach journey with stops in Honiton and Salisbury. It was a releif to get there, but there was huge excitement on the bus, especially among the youngsters.
"We stayed in central London and went out to Twickenham for the game the next day. It was back into the city for a show on the Saturday night and then the long journey home on the Sunday.
"It didn't really matter how you travelled in those days it seemed to take an age. When I played in my first England trial at Twickenham I remember catching the Cornish Riviera train and that took a good eight hours to get to London.
"That was how I went to London when I won my first cap. I was picked to play against Scotland in Edinburgh on 15 March, 1952 and I caught the train to London on the Wednesday morning.
"We met up and stayed in London that night before travelling to Scotland by train on the Thursday. We had a bit of a run around together on the Friday and then some of the players went off to play golf.
"We had a look at Murrayfield on the morning of the match and then had lunch together and talked over a few tactics. It was a great feeling playing for England, although I think my father, Phil, was even more nervous than I was."
Phil Collins handed down his love of rugby to his son. A centre who played 44 times for Cornwall, captained Camborne and played against four touring teams, he travelled all the way from Camborne to Edinburgh by train to watch his son make his Test debut.
"I think Dad shed a few tears, but I felt quite calm. The only problem I had was in the dressing room before the game when I found myself as one of three England players who wanted to follow their personal tradition of being the last player out of the tunnel," recalled John.
"One of them was the Penzance & Newlyn back row forward John Kendall-Carpenter. In the end I left the other two to fight it out am\ong themselves - I wasn't going to miss out on a moment of my big day."
 England beat the Scots 19-3 to end a run of nine successive away defeats stretching back over a five year period. So what does John remember of that great day.
"We were quite a good side and we beat them quite easily in the end. I was a very good drop kicker and I had a chance from near half-way early on and it just went past the upright.
"I had one chance with a goalkick because we scored a try on the right and as I was a left footed kicker I was offered the conversion. In those days a player held the ball for the kicker, but Pat Sykes and myself hadn't done any practice.
"He held it at the top, but I was used to having someone hold both ends of the ball and then letting go at the right moment. I asked him to hold the ball in two hands, but he said he had never done that before.
"In the end he let go a bit early and the ball went through the air like a balloon and missed by a mile."
John eventually got home to Camborne on Monday evening after travelling from Edinburgh to London on Sunday and then London to Cornwall the following day. Next up for England and John after that triumph were Ireland at Twickenham.
The game had been postponed from 9 February because of the death of King George VI and had it not been for the fact the Irish had travelled the game could have been called off again because of blizzard like conditions.
"I caught a taxi to the station on Thursday morning and arrived at Paddington at 5.00pm. Then I got the tube to Richmond where I met up with the rest of the England players," recalled John.
"We had a a get together and then went off to see a show the night before the game. Unfortunately there was a lot of snow the night before the game and the match was in doubt for a while," said John.
"There was a large contingent of supporters from Camborne booked on the train to come to the game, but they weren't aware of the icy conditions and many of them weren't prepared for the cold on the day of the game. When we got to Twickenham everything was covered in snow.
"The ground staff managed to clear half of the pitch and all the snow was pushed back on the banks. That mean't there was a smaller than usual crowd.
"I was so excited at playing for England at Twickenham that I didn't feel the cold at all, although I know that my grandfather took a couple of drops of whiskey to keep himself warm.
"I think we made a little bit of rugby history that day because the referee, Ivor David, allowed us to go into the dressing rooms at half-time to change our kit. We won 3-0 against an Irish side containing Jackie Kyle thanks to a try by Brian Boobbyer.
"After the post-match meal I went to Paddington with my family to see off the Camborne supporters as they caught the midnight train back to Cornwall."
John's third and final cap came against France in Paris in April - and another win. This time two Nim Hall penalties tipped the scales 6-3 in England's favour
"I left for Paris on Wednesday morning,. stayed in London on that night and travelled to Paris on Thursday. I eventually got back home on Monday night, although I wouldn't have worried if it had taken seven days," said John.
Life is a lot different now, with Twickenham being a mere four hour drive from Cornwall. Even so, John will have to take the train to get to the Heineken Cup final because he has never driven in his life. |
Hall of Fame
Former Camborne players who have represented the Cornwall Rugby Football Union on 5 or more occasions are listed below :-
A.Cook* 102, D.Weeks 69, C.J.Durant 53, P.A.Collins* 44, G.Harris 39, B.Andrew* 38, D.Chapman 38, J.Trevorrow* 38, S.Rogers 35, H.N.Oliver 34, C.Alcock* 33, W.T.Biddick 32, P.Gadsdon* 29, R.Mankee 27, R.J.Tonkin 27, P.J.Collins 25 (also England 3 times), D.Rule 25, A.Reed* 23 (also Scotland 18 times and British Lions), S.H.Wakeham 23, F.Rogers 22, T.Warren 20, J.Bowden* 19, C.Selwood 19, N.Pellowe 18, P Trudgeon* 18, K.Penrose*17, P.V.Ranford 17, F.S.Jackson* 16 (also toured with the 1908 British Lions), D.Levick* 16, J.Polglase* 16, J.Allen 15, P.Evans 15, F.Matthews 15, G.House 14, S. Lord * 14, T.K.Vivian 14, L.G. Hammer 13, R.W.Honeywell* 13, F.Rule 13, R.Carter 12, S. Hosking* 12, C. Lovelock 11, I. Pollard 11, W.F.Selwood 11, R. Carroll*10, R.Hamblin 10, W.Mayne 10, R.Newton*10, J.Rockett 10, N.Coldrick 9, I.Morgan* 9, J.Pendray 9, G.Thomas 9, T.Adams 8, R.Buckingham* 8, A.Durant* 8, T.Harvey 8, L.C.F.May 8, R.H. Selwood 8, M.R.J.Sweeney* 8, E.Bennetts 7, J.G.Bussell* 7, J.Carter 7, A.Elliot 7, T.P.Rule 7, S.Vibart 7, F.Wharton 7, N.Allen 6, S.Carter 6, R.J.Knowles 6, M.Lee 6, F.Martin 6, S.Richardson* 6, F.Rhodda* 6, E.Rockett 6, W.Rogers 6, L.Willoughby 6, D.Bailey 5, A.Barry* 5, J.Boase 5, B.Davis 5, T.Morrisey 5, R.Parnell 5, G.H.Rice 5, G.Rogers 5, P.Strike* 5, R.Thomas 5, A.Williams 5, B.Wilton 5, F.C.Wright 5.
* Also played for other clubs
Club Honours
Top Cornish Team/ Merit or League Winners
1909-10, 1910-11, 1926-27, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1984-85, 1985-86
Highest placed Cornish National RFU League club 1987-88, 1988-89
Western Counties West Champions 2003-04, 2009-10
Cornwall KO Cup Winners
1977-78, 1984-85, 1986-87, 1989-90, 1991-92. Runners-Up:- 1978-79, 1980-81,
1981-82, 1982-83, 1985-86, 1988-89, 1990-91, 2008-9
Post War Club Captains
1946-47 D Williams, 47-48 N Wakeham, 48-49 R Allen, 49-50 A Visick, 50-51 G Wakeham, 51-53 M Biddick, 53-54 R Honeywell, 54-55 H White, 55-56 G Wakeham, 56-57 H White, 57-58 B Eddy, 58-60 D Harris, 60-61 G Polkinghorne, 61-62 D Harris, 62-63 J Marcheselli, 63-64 J Rockett, 64-65 J Allen, 65-66 D Beard, 66-67 R Waters, 67-68 G Lord, 68-69 T Hosking, 69-71 J Rockett, 71-72 A Rowe, 72-73 D Kingston, 73-74 C Durant, 74-75 D Kingston, 75-76 T Rule, 76-77 N Pellowe, 77-80 C Durant, 80-81 R Tonkin, 81-82 J Trevorrow, 82-83 B Wills, 83-84 P Ranford/N Pellowe, 84-85 M Bennetts, 85-86 P Trudgeon, 86-87 P Trevaskis, 87-88 P Trudgeon, 88-90 C Alcock, 90-91 B Andrew, 91-92 D Rule, 92-94 T Adams, 94-96 D Weeks, 96-99 S Oates, 99-00 P Wells, 00-02 A Downing, 02-03 N Coldrick, 03-05 I Morgan, 05-06 S Oates, 06-08 D Roberts, 08-09 M Woolcock, 09-10 D.Roberts
Club Officials
Presidents:- 1948-51 G Whitworth/W Marks, 51-66 P Holman, 66-70 H Stewart, 70-91 J Trott, 91-08 D Roberts, 08- J Dunstan
Chairmen:- 1951-55 W Marks, 55-60 A Thomas, 60-64 G Fox, 64-70 J Trott, 70-72 R Evans, 75-77 N Truscott, 77-81 C Rowling, 81-83 H Tregenza, 83-88 M Roach, 88-91 L Prideaux, 91-92 B Bray, 92-94 L Clymo, 94-98 W Harris, 98-02 R Bray, 02-04 T Harris, 04-08 J Dunstan, 08- A Truscott
Secretaries:- 1948-50 A Carter, 50-53 H Walker, 53-71 N Trevarthen, 71-85 L Clymo, 85-93 S West 93-97 W Dunstan, 97-98 J Rogers, 98-99 W Dunstan, 99-00 Y Slade, 00-02 I Matthews, 02- S West
Treasurers :- 1948-73 P Pearce, 73-75 D Barnes, 75-82 T Mitchell, 82-87 W Thomas, 87-88 M Stone, 88-89 R Bray, 89-91 W Thomas, 92-94 M Roach, 94-08 G Chinn, 08- P Floyd
The Camborne Badge
Cherry and White were the colours of the Basset family coat of arms and their racing colours, while the three Cornish choughs represent good luck and good harvests. The Bassets of Tehidy owned tin and copper mines in the Camborne-Redruth area, the most famous and deepest at 1006m, being Dolcoath mine, at Camborne, which helped Cornwall become the richest mining area in the world by the mid 19th century. Francis Basset, the Lord de Dunstanville, is commemorated by the monument which stands on Carn Brea overlooking Camborne-Redruth. In the centre of the badge is the Bell of St Meriadoc now preserved at Morbihan in Brittany and the Latin inscription reads "Piturficisti". St Meriadoc was a Christian Missionary who came to Camborne between 500 and 700 AD, when Camborne was spelt Cambron, which translated from Cornish, means "crooked hill". Under the bell is the Pendarves cromlech, a large flat stone supported by three stones set in the ground. The club motto - "An Gwary Ha Tra Nahen" is Cornish for "The Game And Nothing Else".
 Camborne RFC / Cornwall RFU Milestones 
1877 First rugby team represents Camborne.
1878 Camborne Rugby Football Club formed.
1899 South African team Crown Reef win the Blane Cup with 3 Camborne men in their side.
1905 Cornwall 0 New Zealand 'All Blacks' 41 (at Camborne RFC)
1908 County Championship final - Cornwall 17 Durham 3 (at Redruth RFC)
1908 Cornwall 5 Australia 18 (at Camborne RFC).
1908 Cornwall honoured to represent Great Britain in the Olympic Games at the White City Stadium, London and win Silver Medal for Great Britain after being beaten by Australia in the final 32-3.
1909 South African team Randfontein United win the Dewer Cup & Shield helped by 5 Camborne players.
1909 County Championship final - Durham 12 Cornwall 0 (at West Hartlepool RFC)
1911 Camborne were the top Cornish side for the 2nd successive season.
1924 History was made at Camborne when a crowd of 19,000 watch Cornwall play the New Zealand 'All Blacks'. The visitors proved too strong again with a 29-0 scoreline. There were seven Camborne players in this Cornwall team.
1927 Camborne were the top club in Cornwall in 1926-27 and they get their first win over Captain Crawshays Welsh International XV.
1928 County Championship final - Cornwall narrowly lose away to Yorkshire 12-8. (at Bradford RFC)
1947 Cornwall & Devon 7 Australia 17 (at Camborne RFC)
1952 Camborne full back, John Collins selected to play for England.
1953 Cornwall & Devon 0 New Zealand 9 (at Camborne RFC) Attendance 18,000
1958 County Championship final - Warwickshire 16 Cornwall 8 (at Coventry RFC)
1960 Cornwall & Devon 9 South Africa 21 (at Camborne RFC)
1967 South-West Counties 6 Australia 11 (at Camborne RFC)
1968 Camborne become the first Cornish team to beat Ebbw Vale in 18 Cornish tours.
1969 County Championship final - Cornwall 9 Lancashire 11 (at Redruth RFC).
1972 Cornwall 13 Comite-de-Lyonaise 14 (at Camborne RFC)
1977 Cornwall 12 U.S.A. 11 (at Camborne RFC)
1978 Camborne marked their centenary year 1977-78 by winning the Cornish League and Cup and their fixtures that year included visits from top clubs Cardiff, Pontypridd, Saracens, Gloucester, Coventry and Captain Crawshays International XV.
1979 Cornwall 7 South African Barbarians 25 (at Camborne RFC)
1982 Camborne win the Cornish league for the 5th successive year.
1986 Camborne win the Cornish league for the 2nd successive year.
1987 Formation of Courage Leagues. Camborne were placed in Courage National Division 4 South, which is equivalent to National Division 3 South today.
1989 Camborne are the highest placed Cornish league club for the 2nd successive year.
1989 County Championship final at Twickenham - Cornwall 9 Durham 13. There were nine Camborne players in this squad.
1991 County Championship final at Twickenham - Cornwall 29 Yorkshire 20 after extra time. There was a sell out capacity crowd at this game of 54,000, the vast majority being Cornish supporters.
1991 Camborne play Crawshays XV at home to celebrate the opening of the new Crane Park clubhouse in September.
1992 Camborne win the Cornwall KO Cup for the 5th time in 15 years.
1992 County Championship final at Twickenham - Cornwall 6 Lancashire 9.
1994 Cornwall 5 Canterbury 67 (at Camborne RFC)
1998 County Championship final at Twickenham - Cornwall 14 Cheshire 21.
1999 County Championship final at Twickenham - Cornwall 25 Gloucester 15.
2003 Camborne RFC celebrate their 125th anniversary season by playing Crawshay's Welsh RFC .
2004 Camborne host the South American side 'Los Troncos' on their Easter tour.
2004 Camborne are champions of Western Counties West league
2006 Camborne RFC and the Cornish Pirates agree on a joint venture for the 2006/7 season to ground share at Camborne's Recreation ground.
 
| Archive Antics II |
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In this column two weeks ago, we started to acquaint supporters with snippets of interest about our Camborne hosts, with the Recreation Ground also regarded as being in the heartland of Cornish Rugby.
It was mentioned that the first game involving a team representing Camborne was played against Penzance in 1877.
Many of their players were miners who worked at Dolcoath Mine, some of them climbing from 2,550 feet down to change and rush off to a gruelling game.
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A number also took the game to various mining bases around the globe, players from Camborne featuring in certain cup winning teams in South Africa a century ago.
The mid-1920s saw Camborne in fine fettle, seven of their members playing here for Cornwall against the “All Blacks” in 1924.
The 1926-27 season was particularly successful, the “Cherry & Whites” playing record reading: P 38, W 32, D 2, L 4, Points for 651, Against 151, and they also got their first win against Captain Crawshay’s XV. The prestigious Welsh International side first played Camborne in 1922-23, their visits always anticipated with excitement.
The crowds would applaud Captain Geoffrey Crawshay whenever he took his place in the stand, or walked to the centre of the pitch in his cloak of green Welsh weave. His touring sides consisted of seasoned international players, and an equal number of up and coming stars who, in his opinion, would soon make the Wales team – and he was invariably right!
During the 1930s the Camborne club were less successful, but they still produced numerous talented performers. Names of the period included such as Carter, Clymo, Collins and Rockett, with it all but guaranteed that certain of their offspring will be here watching today, and who have themselves given stalwart service to Camborne and Cornish rugby in later years. People such as Terry and Brian Carter, Merrill Clymo, John Collins and John Rockett readily spring to mind.
Camborne Home Guard Rugby Club kept the game alive in Camborne during WW2, a time when the legendary St. Ives and Cornwall player Harry Oliver turned out for the team, but when the war ended it was not long before the “Town” were back in business. Interestingly, one of their early post-war players was Robert Shaw, later to become an actor who starred in “Jaws”, but the real star was John Collins, son of Phil - a fine centre of the 20s and 30s.
John Collins first played for Camborne Reserves in 1946-47, him playing in a number of positions before settling for full-back. His first game for Cornwall followed in the very next season, against Monmouthshire at the Mennaye Field, Penzance. Tall and thin, he never quite looked the part until the action began, but he was courageous under the high ball, kicked beautifully and tackled in manner to quickly dispel any first impression.
In 1951-52 he had his finest season, and was capped three times for England, before a knee injury sadly forced him to retire from the game when in his prime. It has been said that he was, indeed is, “modest in all that he achieved”, him nowadays an enthusiastic member of the Cornwall Sages Society.
Words to Camborne Hill
Listen to Graham Hart's "Camborne Hill" (YouTube)
Graham Hart's website
http://www.myspace.com/thecornwellian
© 2008 Camborne Rugby Football Club
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