“I think my family already thought I was crazy so this is nothing new,” says Kenn Moritz from his home office in faraway Pittsburgh. The Moritz family may have a point. Given all those baseball, football, ice hockey and basketball franchises in the United States, why opt instead to invest in a second-tier English rugby club in Cornwall that almost folded less than two years ago?
The catalyst turns out, ahem, to have been your correspondent’s article about the Cornish Pirates in the Guardian last December. Moritz was sitting where he is now, trawling through his trusted worldwide news sources when he stumbled across the Pirates’ quest for fresh investment. Somewhere inside him a light flicked on. “Without that article I wouldn’t have called,” says Moritz, the president of the private equity firm Stonewood Capital. “It gave me an insight into what was going on in English rugby and piqued my interest.”
Who needs the Financial Times? Fast forward five months and one of the more improbable sporting marriages has been consummated. Stonewood now have what it is calling a “strong minority interest” on the club’s board alongside an existing consortium of local business owners. In return it has pledged an initial seven-figure investment as a springboard to a potentially exciting next chapter.
Moritz and his fellow investor John H Tippins, both in their 60s, normally specialise in industrial companies but, if anything, the novelty value has further stoked their enthusiasm for the Pirates of Penzance. As Moritz says: “Rugby is much more interesting than, say, manufacturing fibreglass fabric and engenders more cocktail conversation. I don’t really get to watch the factory at work that much.”
Fate also played a small but crucial part. “When Kenn brought this up to me I said: ‘Really? Rugby? Where?’” recalls Tippins. “He said Cornwall. And, of all places, guess where I had just returned from holiday?” After getting in touch with Sally Pettipher, the Pirates’ chief executive, they were soon even more sold. As Moritz puts it: “I spoke with Sally and it was very obvious something interesting was going on.”
Everything is relative and no one is claiming the Pirates have stumbled across a bottomless treasure trove. Neither is the courteous Moritz, a trained lawyer, an obviously misty-eyed dreamer. He has never watched Local Hero, Bill Forsyth’s classic movie about a Texas-based oil executive falling in love with Scotland’s west coast, nor is he standing wistfully in acres of maize like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams.
But over and above sporting romance – “I don’t know if it’s romantic, though I did watch Poldark and that was pretty romantic” – he can sense something else: a tantalising business opportunity despite his lack of specialist rugby knowledge. “We come at it with what we think is an asset – ignorance. We look at things without having baggage or sacred cows. We ask questions and make things work with logic, common sense and maybe the experience we’ve had in other businesses. Ultimately we look at the same things: revenues, costs, how can we expand the business and make it more profitable and valuable.”
And, in his view, English rugby is an increasingly fertile landscape, as shown by recent significant overseas investor activity at Exeter Chiefs and Newcastle Red Bulls. “We’re aware of other investments being made. And I’m sure there are others being teed up as we speak. I think a lot of people are seeing the [same] things we do. This is a sleeping giant in certain ways. If we all take the right steps and do the right things I think the overall value of English rugby has nowhere to go but up.”
It also does no harm that the 2031 Rugby World Cup is taking place in the States. As Moritz stresses: “We have a runway here to really get our ducks in a row for that.” Pettipher, who also had inquiries from Australia and Japan, believes times are changing. Why shell out unnecessary big bucks, she argues, when a Champ club comes far cheaper? “The second tier is a fantastic bargain. And if you want a bargain you might as well have Cornwall because it’s the best place on earth.”
So what next? Improved stadium facilities – either at the Mennaye Field or elsewhere – and strengthening the team will be obvious priorities. A women’s team and an academy are also under discussion. “There are lots of potential growth opportunities for the team,” says Moritz. “Clearly the revenue base will expand with more interest and success. I know Cornwall is enamoured with rugby and we have to tap into all that and leverage it. We don’t know the route it’s going to take but we all have a vision for where it’s going to go. With the right capital and fortitude we’ll get there.”
The lack of any huge historical debt, courtesy of former owner Sir Richard Evans’s longtime patronage, is also a welcome bonus compared with several Prem sides. “Some of the bigger teams with bigger budgets face problems they need to solve,” confirms Moritz. “Here there are also problems but they are on a smaller scale. We feel it is an opportunity for us to get the thing orientated in the right direction. So when the top tier is available that is something that could be taken advantage of.”
And how bracingly good would it be if this geographically remote but proud old rugby heartland can be rebooted? Pettipher believes the Pirates could conceivably be Prem-ready inside five years but only if it is absolutely right for the club. “We’ve always had Prem ambition and we’ve got a clear line of sight of how to do that.
“The great thing about Cornwall is that it’s a rugby county. There’s also a massive Cornish diaspora. They’re as loyal to Cornwall as the Welsh are to Wales and the Scots are to Scotland. If we want to kick the door down we will get there for sure. That’s always been our ambition. No one ever wants to be second.”
And what about Sir Richard, now into his 80s and suffering from Parkinson’s? How has he greeted the news? “The man is an absolute lion,” continues Pettipher. “He’s got a progressive, debilitating disease but he’s 100% there mentally. He just loves everybody who loves Pirates. I want to see us a Premiership club within his lifetime but it’s not just my choice.” At least the Pirates now have a renewed gleam in their eyes. And if anyone else fancies getting into English rugby they now know where to look for inspiration.