London Cornish RFC

London Cornish RFC is a rugby union club which was originally formed for Cornish exiles in London, England. It was established in 1962 by a group who met in Fleet Street's Cock Tavern, and were originally known as the ″Cornish Exiles″.[1]

The club changed its name to ″London Cornish″ shortly thereafter and played occasional fixtures in a variety of locations until moving to the current ground, the Richardson Evans Memorial Playing Fields just off the A3 and the current venue for the Rosslyn Park 7s.[2]These grounds have been rented to the club ever since by Wimbledon and Putney Common Conservators. The club moved their once a week training venue to Rosslyn Park FC's all weather surface at the start of the 2016–17 season, and their post match venue to the Roehampton CC Clubhouse at the same time. With no direct and sustainable sources of income, players at LCRFC have to pay £200 per annum to play for the club.

The advent of the League system saw London Cornish join the Middlesex division and there they stayed until the season of 1997–98 when the club transferred to Surrey 3. After one season in the new league, London Cornish saw improvements, achieving four promotions in seven years. A decade at Level 7 followed, but following 2 Play-Off defeats when finishing 2nd in London 2 South West in 2014-15 and 2015–16, London Cornish stormed to the title in 2016–17, registering the league's first ever 22 match unbeaten season in the process. In 2017–18 and 2018-19, with the club playing at its highest ever level, the Level 6 London 1 South, Cornish finished in a creditable 8th place, before a late winning run saw the club retain their status with an 11th place finish in 2019-20. The 2020-21 season was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. London Cornish run 3 teams, all of which compete in leagues.

The current Director of Rugby and Head Coach, Redruth born Dickon Moon, took on the role at the start of 2003–04, having joined the club from Old Patesians RFC. Dickon was voted Middlesex RFU Volunteer of the Year in 2014 and was awarded the Paul Smales Medallion for 'Services to Cornwall from a Cornishman living outside Cornwall' in 2015, the citation given for 'Outstanding service to Cornish rugby'. From 2018 to the present day, he is supported by Head Coach Corne Du Rand, and Assistant Coaches Ed Carne and Paul Spivey.