Premiership promotion: 'Still a way to go' over stadium rules, says Cornish Pirates boss

Cornish Pirates current home at the Mennaye Field in Penzance does not meet Premiership standards

Cornish Pirates chairman Paul Durkin says rule changes over the size of grounds clubs need to be promoted to the Premiership make little difference.

Clubs will be given time to get a stadium with a minimum capacity of 10,001 if they want to go up.

Championship winners Ealing were denied promotion last season as their ground did not have enough capacity.

"Practically it doesn't make a heck of a difference," Durkin said of the changes to BBC Radio Cornwall.

Under the new rules, a side promoted at the end of this season must have a capacity of 5,000 when they audit in January 2023 and have the planning permission and funding in place to expand their stadium.

They would then have until the start of the 2024-25 season to construct larger stands.

Cornish Pirates currently have planning permission for the Stadium for Cornwall outside Truro, although they are still trying to get funding for the long-awaited project.

But in the wake of financial problems facing Premiership sides Worcester and Wasps, Durkin says he would not risk the club's future on an improved stadium unless it was sustainable.

"There's no way we want to put ourselves in a position that we're going to have to appoint administrators in two or three years time if that was the case," he said.

"We will not jump the gun, we will only go forward when we know that there's a very good chance that it will be financially sustainable.

"That's built on the premise that you have to have additional income other than matchday income from using a stadium, and the property assets around that generate further income.

"We will look at it all, we're pleased to see that at least they've seen sense to drop it initially to 5,000, but there's still a way to go," Durkin added.

"If they want to be seen to be financially responsible then forcing clubs into building a 10,000-capacity stadium without even the certainty of promotion is probably not the right way of going about it."