Josh Lewsey goes all-Cornish in Pirates’ masterplan

Galvanising support throughout the whole of Cornwall is key to the success of Cornish Pirates says CEO and performance director, Josh Lewsey.
The former Wasps and England wing has spent the summer conducting a root and branch review of the club’s on and off-field operations.
Friday night rugby is the most obvious change fans will see as the Pirates set out to become ‘Premiership capable’ by season 2015-16. But Lewsey has ambitions far beyond that and believes the Duchy outfit can become bigger than many existing Premiership teams.
“We want to follow the example of financially stable Premiership sides like Harlequins, Northampton and Exeter,” Lewsey told The Rugby Paper.
“What do they have in common? They’ve all adhered to a longer term strategy of building their clubs from the bottom up. They have a huge community following, they develop their own players and that’s the starting process we’re on here now.
“It’s not about results, we won’t win the Championship this year because our budget is less than others, it’s about a building process.
“Results will come and go, but if you can chart playing performance effectively and then focus on providing a decent level of entertainment and match-day experience, a longer term strategy is the right way to go.
“But what I’d say is that while the Premiership clubs I mentioned have done a fantastic job, none of them are Cornwall.
“If you can light a fire under this place and get things right down here, you’ve got a republic on your hands and the Pirates could be massive.”
Lewsey has engaged leaders in Cornish business, tourism, politics, health and charities, seeking what they want from the rugby club. Partnerships with other senior Cornish rugby clubs have been established in an effort to break down traditional barriers.
The Pirates have made their presence felt in all corners of the county during a series of well-attended road shows.
And the pre-season highlight will see the Pirates take on a Cornwall Clubs XV under new floodlights at the Mennaye field on Friday week. Lewsey said: “There’s a real buzz. Creating change is hard in this part of the world and it’s taken a lot of emotional and physical energy, but it’s a work in progress and, hopefully, the start of successful journey.
“The aim is to become ‘Premiership capable’ by 2015-16 so that when our new stadium occurs, we can step up and sustain ourselves at that level.
“We’ve engaged as many people within the county as possible and it’s been about trying to get over some tribal parochialism and uniting resources. Our focus has been on harnessing all that and bringing people together, which is crucial.
“We’ve introduced club partnerships in every club in the county and the Cornwall Clubs’ game at the end of the month is symbolic. We want every club to feel they have ownership of what’s happening here.”
Friday night rugby is not to everybody’s taste, but Lewsey defended the move, saying: “It provides a massive home advantage to us, but there are other factors. Last year our average gate was 1,780, which you can’t run a professional club on, so we have to try other things.
“The feedback we got last season was that the match-day experience didn’t live up to expectations, so we’ve taken that on board, invested in that and our supporters will find match-days very different from now on.”
NEALE HARVEY