‘This is a big moment’: Cornwall opens up new frontier for rugby league

Very rarely will you have heard Namibian rugby union and Cornish rugby league mentioned in the same breath: but then again, very few people have a story to tell quite like Neil Kelly. The 59-year-old’s journey has taken him from the heartlands of rugby league, playing for clubs such as Featherstone and Wakefield with great distinction, to a coaching career that has included stints in Ireland, America and Namibia.

This Saturday, Kelly begins arguably the most intriguing challenge of his rugby career as he takes charge of Cornwall in their inaugural match as a rugby league club. Founded last November after a successful bid acquired the professional licence initially earmarked for a Canadian franchise in Ottawa that never materialised, the Rugby Football League’s approval of the Cornish bid, marks the first time in history the region has had a professional rugby league team.

It is the latest ambitious step in rugby league’s plans to expand beyond its heartlands and a fascinating moment for a region of more than 500,000 people that has only one other professional sporting team to its name, rugby union’s Cornish Pirates. “I’ve coached all over the world in so many environments, but never encountered anything like this,” Kelly tells the Guardian ahead of Cornwall’s first game in League 1, rugby league’s third tier, this weekend when they will face another expansion side, North Wales Crusaders.

“The real attraction was the fact it’s a start-up and I can help mould a club in my image, but also the region. It’s incredible, there’s so many people, and so many chances to get new people attracted to rugby league.” Cornwall will play their home games in Penryn and while previous expansion clubs have arrived in rugby league with a