Truro City: Canadian consortium takes over club from Kernow Sport

Truro City were promoted to National League South in the summer via the play-offs

Truro City have been taken over by a Canadian consortium led by Cornwall RLFC chairman Eric Perez.

The club had been owned by Kernow Sport - who also own Cornish Pirates rugby union side - since March 2019.

Under the plans both sides will eventually play at a new stadium being built for National League South club on the outskirts of the Cornish capital.

"We've fallen in love with the place and we see massive potential in this football club," Perez said.

"The ability to take this club up levels would be transformative for the sporting landscape in Cornwall and we're looking forward to delivering that," he told BBC Spotlight.

• Listen: BBC Radio Cornwall - Truro City FC under new ownership

Truro are in the relegation places in National League South after their promotion last season and play their games at Plymouth Parkway's Bolitho Park while their new ground is being built.

"I'm sad to lose Truro City, it's been a pleasure to support their ambitions, see them promoted, and have started to build their new home in Truro," Kernow Sport owner Dicky Evans said.

"We pass on a great club with a bright future and I wish them well with their new owners" Evans added.

'I'm a football fanatic' - Perez

Eric Perez's Cornwall RLFC have played in the third tier of English rugby league for the past two seasons

Perez - who set up Cornwall RLFC in 2021 - feels Truro's unique position geographically in Cornwall means the purchase by his Ontario Inc consortium could be a good business decision.

"I feel like a well-supported club in Cornwall has more ability to make money let's say than your average club," the Canadian added.

"I don't think there's another club that has an hour-and-a-half catchment area in the top six divisions, so just that alone presents a unique opportunity.

"We've been looking at that and realising this is a good thing for us to do."

Perez was a founder of Toronto Wolfpack and had plans for a second rugby league side, Ottawa, to play in England before the Covid-19 pandemic.

But despite an association with the 13-man game, Perez says football is his big passion.

"I don't think too many people would say 'let's buy a football club to support a rugby league club', I think that's a strange play to make," he said.

"I'm a football fanatic, a lot of people on the group are football fanatics and we're here to take this club up, that's what we're here for.

"If it wasn't for the rugby league club we wouldn't know about this operating environment so that is a factor, but we're talking football."

What now for Cornish Pirates?

Work is well under way on the site that will be Truro City's new stadium

Truro City's new 3,000 capacity venue is currently being built on the outskirts of the city after long-running plans for a 10,000 capacity Stadium for Cornwall ground to a halt.

The arena is being financed by money which was ringfenced from the sale of Truro's old ground at Treyew Road to developers who have since built a supermarket on the site.

It had been planned that once the new ground had been built it could be scaled up to accommodate Premiership rugby union should the Pirates be in a position to gain promotion.

"It is a sadness for Pirates to have to give up their ambition for a permanent home in Truro, but the bigger reality of my declining health and sunset funding means that sensible governance decisions needed to be made to secure the future of both clubs," Evans said.

"With Truro City in good hands, I am now totally focussed on passing on the Pirates baton to new rugby owners. Cornish Pirates will remain in Penzance, their home and heartland.

"We may have lost the stadium, but we have gained control of our own destiny."

Cornish Pirates' long-held ambitions to play in a stadium in Truro - such as the planned Stadium for Cornwall - now appear over

Championship clubs - including the Pirates - rejected a plan from the Rugby Football Union for a franchise-based league as part of proposals for a new 'Premiership Two' from 2025.

Kernow Sport had been crowdfunding to help finance both the Pirates and Truro City - more than 500 people invested as the firm raised in excess of £400,000.

And while a new stadium may no longer be part of the Pirates' future - something they had been hoping for more than 15 years - the club feels this deal will secure its future despite concern over the long-term plans for club rugby union in England.

"In the face of all the publicity about failing rugby clubs and the total lack of clarity from the RFU on the rugby structure and more importantly on funding going forward, I am proud to say that Pirates is financially secure and will continue to compete within the top 20 of English rugby," said Cornish Pirates chairman Paul Durkin.

"The club is an essential part of the fabric of Cornwall with a loyal fan base and widespread commercial and community support. As a safe bet, we are as good as it gets."