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If i was a player today i would crawl over broken glass to play in front of the ever growing F-Troop at Bickland Park for the mighty Falmouth Town. For many years our great club has been sleeping and indeed came within 2 days of losing Bickland Park 5 years ago, a club living on past glories of players like Manley, Etheridge, Rich, Carter, Scott, Kellow, Chegwyn, Ashe, Horrocks and many more. But Bickland Park was saved and now the club is back on its feet, out of debt, and ready to go. In Westy we have a young vibrant manager who was born a stone throw from Bickland Park and is building a young vibrant team to carry the club forward. Within the past 2 years the club has made massive improvements to Bickland Park, new roof on main stand, seats added, new floodlights, new extended roof on the Packet End and in the past couple of months lots on improvements to the clubhouse including a new roof and weather boards etc. Theres no ground in Cornwall like Bickland Park. Believe me, the Town is buzzing for the season to start, the F-Troop are chomping at the bit to get back. Promotion is our aim but it wont be easy, there are still a lot of quality teams in the SWPL but we are going to give it a real go. UP THE TOWN !!!

Before I stick my nose into this, I’m commenting as an individual - not the club I represent. I didn’t want to create a new profile as people are quick to dismiss the views of new profiles as keyboard warriors. I’ve no issue with Truro City - for a long time I’ve felt strongly about Truro putting Cornish football on the map and would’ve hoped that their FA Cup run several years ago would’ve aided this. I’m a fan of S4C for the benefits of football within the county and for a long time have thought Truro should’ve had a reserve side - and that the original one shouldn’t have been disbanded (on the flip side, we as a club benefited from this). I’m also a huge fan of the St Piran league, from its formation it has been run impressively and I even nominated them for an award in this year’s County FA awards! I think it’s important to respect everyone’s views on this and they’re entitled to have opinions on the situation and their views of Truro on seemingly petty things or historic issues surrounding Heaney etc. I dislike Perranwell because they served me burnt chips once and didn’t have toilet roll when I needed a poo (unrelated incidents), so people are entitled to dislike Truro or not want them to enter directly into this league for the way they conducted themselves when last at this level/step/standard of football - so be it. On the other side, people are entitled to positive opinions on the matter, it may mean more football (although that’s not even a given now!), or raise the standard of it. My own thoughts/concerns/questions are: - the impact it has on surrounding teams. These players are not ‘new’ players coming from the u18s - many are attached to current clubs in this league and those around it and represented them last season. - what happens if Truro win the league? Will an enforced promotion take place and do their facilities allow it? I don’t believe ‘S4C’ will be ready then and a ground share isn’t an option (hence why the St Dennis ground share proposal broke down to my knowledge?). - surely the votes and opinions of the league’s founder members stand for something, the fact that this took place and has now been ‘cancelled’ (for want of a better term) brings unnecessary disrepute upon the league as well as unnecessary tensions. - the fact that this has been overturned within a day. The St Piran League has a clear Appeals policy which looks to take longer than a day, unless this has been taken above that then the question would be how, why and what power would then make that decision. I know several CCFA members are involved with Truro Res/u18s, but surely they wouldn’t be involved in this if those rules are similar to the appeals rules within St Piran League which state committee representatives associated with clubs can’t sit on the appeals panel. - I know that John Mead mentioned above regarding the SCOR - I have had a quick look through the FA’s 2020/21 SCOR and it states that: 3.1 The matter of placements for Clubs in Feeder Leagues is for the League (pg 396) This indicates that the vote at the AGM was correct? Happy to be pointed in the direction of any other relevant SCOR though? - the St Piran rules say that the AGM is for election of clubs - so if this isn’t true surely the relevant Gov. bodies would pick up on this when the rules are submitted. -Morally it feels off. Would the same apply to a SWPL looking to enter a newly formed reserve side? -They could enter the Combination/ECPL, establish themselves for a season, support the development of the players and then enter, or apply to, the St Piran league. Entering at what is effectively the second highest league in Cornish football feels morally wrong. Sorry for the long post, and a bit of a tedious one. Doesn’t sit right with me and I am a bit of a stickler for rules and regs and I can’t see how this has been turned over so quickly when all look to be above board originally? Josh

So, “Excuse not to watch Falmouth Town number one hundred and whatever” is that you now don’t want to walk past a garden shed? Really? I’m currently laughing out loud and my wife’s wondering why!

We’re not worried, happy to travel anywhere for a game of football under these circumstances. We actually know Wendron well, old friends of ours and always a pleasure to see Pete Thorne and co. Great venue for a cup final!

Went to watch this yesterday on a pleasant and warm afternoon in North West London, that was only punctuated by the one short and sharp shower. Have to say, for a so called "jolly" (as a previous poster had stated), Kernow looked fit, sharp and well prepared. Cascadia probably weren't the best of opponents (counted three ponytails and a few generous waistlines in the starting line up), and were I understand a completely different outfit from that which had reached the last 8 of the previous CONIFA World Cup (COVID meant that there largely USA and Canada based players couldn't travel, and a side was pulled together from players with Cascadia links that were based in London), but Kernow went about their business in a really convincing manner from the off. Admittedly a somewhat cumbersome Cascadia back line (featuring Patrick Wilson as captain, who's day job is on the coaching staff at AFC Bournemouth) granted plenty of time and space for the Kernow players to operate in, but the pace and movement of Hayden Turner, Mark Goldsworthy and Dan Jennings tore them to pieces. Will Tinsley and Jack Calver also enjoyed the freedom of the flanks coming forward, but the real stars of the side were Max Gilbert and Tallan Mitchell in midfield. As I have said, the opposition wasn't the greatest, but these two sparkled. The only thing that was disappointing for Kernow was that they went in only 3-1 up after half time . Cascadia actually briefly got into the game midway through the first half with Gavin McCallum (a former Canadian international),Tayshan Hayden-Smith (rated at one time as the "English Neymar" and who had briefly had spells with Crystal Palace, Brentford, Aldershot and Newcastle as well as several step 2 and 3 non league clubs) and Taylor Fisher (former UC Berkely in California and currently with Poole in Southern League Prem) becoming more influential ,and got the score back to 3-1 through a penalty by Max Oldham. Normal service was soon resumed, and a succession of chances were again spurned by Kernow. The second half resumed with the same pattern of very much one way traffic with Gilbert rounding off his hat trick, before the impressive sub Harry Clarke scoring with an absolute peach of a lob over the busy ex AFC Bournemouth youth team keeper James Mayo (he has to take big credit for a string of saves that kept the score below cricket proportions), but, yet again, lots of chances going begging as the Cascadians tired. Another that caught mine and another spectators eye was Tom Hands, on as a sub, and was very tidy in marking the aforementioned McCallum (as mentioned a former full international, but also very seasoned in the lower reaches of league football and various step 1 and 2 clubs around London and the South East.). I was pretty cynical about the whole Kernow FA to start with, but I am gradually becoming more enthusiastic about it. Darren Gilbert certainly seemed very motivated and was enjoying the occasion, and perhaps it will give him a renewed focus and enthusiasm for the game as his Bodmin career approaches its latter stages. If he can keep this group of players together and interested, and manages to integrate others from step 3 and 4, then I could see them being a formidable outfit. I know people are sniffy about CONIFA, but if it provides a platform for the Cornish players and game in general, then how can it be a bad thing? This, together with Cornish clubs pushing into step 5 football, is part of the same thing in my eyes. I was speaking to a couple of supporters from step 5 club, Tower Hamlets, who had come along to see what was going on, and were pleasantly surprised and impressed by one or two of the Kernow players. Perhaps this project helps to show people like this that non league football doesn't cease to exist past the end of the M5.

Must admit when I was at Falmouth I enjoyed the trips to the East Cornwall and Combo clubs who you could tell were well up for having a crack at us!! Remember the trip to Antony Mike!? I didnt even know where it was at the time and it seemed the whole village came out to insult us in the rain! Posers, big time Charlie’s, they ain’t that good lads, until we won 10-0 but that’s what it’s all about I think! Remember East Cornwall League Nanpean who were a Jerry Solomon bobble away from beating Falmouth in the final!! Hope the County FA keep the magic of this cup but still introduce the Intermediate cup that would be a nice one to win from any team from those 3 leagues 👍⚽️🏆

I'm all for promoting youth football and them "finding their level" but surely finding their level is all about earning it rather than it all being dropped in their laps. For many years now, clubs just give give give and the youth don't have to earn anything - that is a generalisation, but believe me it does happen constanly, and then when these youth players move to adult football and ARE asked to earn something, many, not all, don't want to and just walk away with daddy "we'll find you another club who doesn't make you work for it" Be also interesting if this new Truro side becomes the next Cornwall side en mass - wouldn't surprise many.

Know I've said this before, but if everybody who reads/logs in to this forum gave a couple of quid from the money they haven't spent on going to matches over these past 6 months, then the target would have been smashed by now.

St Agnes AFC are very pleased to be hosting the St Piran Cup semi-final tomorrow at Enys Parc with a 3pm ko. We look forward to welcoming both teams and officials for Polperro v Hayle. Spectators are permitted but please ensure you follow social distancing guidelines. Entry £3/£2 as set by the competition. Our clubhouse will still be closed but limited refreshments will be available to takeaway from the door - hopefully everyone will just be super pleased to have a pitch to get a game played on and be allowed to watch! Good luck to both teams!

71% support is pretty good but it is surprising that the step 7 and below sides voted for this. Part of the attraction of this competition surely is a chance to put one over the big clubs and at least have a big home gate perhaps when one of them comes to town. (Think St Mawgan's prospective visit by the F-Troop during last season's competition.)

What is this to do with transfers?

Steve is quite correct, I believe only a dozen or so Counties showed any interest in completing in these Covid times we are all living in, the Competition was never that popular with the FA hierarchy as it invariably ran at a financial loss, yes I am very sad if this competition has had its day, worked with great football people over the years and have made lifelong friends in both County Manager's, Club Secretaries and of course players.

Glad the ground was saved - always enjoyed playing finals there but it did use to look a little tired. Now with a lot of hard work and a proper wealthy businessman at the helm all is well and even the new F-Troop HQ squeezed in beside the clubhouse lol. Glad the club's mindset has changed and you are going for promotion now and wish you the best of luck for the season.

Why the laughing face le boss ? I think I can safely say almost everyone at Falmouth Town especially those who have worked tirelessly over the last few years improving the ground and clubhouse facilities , have promotion in mind . IN MY OPINION ,I would want us to be promoted the proper way at the top of the league at the end of the season ,not on a points per game basis . Westy has a good side already but with the quality new additions and the F troop mobilised behind them ,who knows what might happen . UTT

I've just won £25 on the premium bond . I was going to donate it to the " save the snow tiger " fund but they tell me that all of the snow tigers have been sponsored so they don't need anymore money . It is a similar situation with the sponsor a donkey appeal I then thought of giving it to the organisation that cares for your cat when you die , then I realised that I don't have a cat . I'm running out of worthy cause to give my £25 to , so I'll donate it this week to push it nearer the total needed .

Falmouth Town sign Will Davis (ex University of Exeter 1st team Captain, 25 and plays centre back) and Alex Wharton ( forward ) from Helston. The newly refurbished social club and ground is looking great. Well done to all involved with that!

Liam Eddy and Jason Chapman signed. Announced on Blazey Twitter. Looks like a good side in the making.

Great game of football I thought Skinner 👍⚽️ Both keepers outstanding! Penryn scoring after 90 seconds (well done son 🙌🏽) then Polperro came storming back and Jason Peters had to make 3 one on one saves to keep the lead intact inside the first 20 minutes. The following 25 minutes turned into the Mike Rickard show! He kept out efforts mostly low and at full stretch from Reevey, Keegan, Shawsy, Morgan and a Rappo free kick all before half time! He carried this on after the break making save after save including a Reevey penalty before an exquisite drilled cross from Brad Leivers saw Reevey get his deserved goal about 20 minutes from time. Thought Penryn were excellent, credit to Popey who was missing a few of his big players as well. Great team performance from Penryn, can’t think of one player that didn’t have a great game on the day. Full credit to Polperro who were really impressive to watch, very good at what they do, bags of pace in the side, think Penryns slick football won the day though. Without those two exceptional keepers the score would have been about 8-5!!! Plenty of chances created and one of the best finals ive seen for a few years. Well done to all involved especially Wendron for a superb venue and Steve at the SPL for getting the lads back out on the pitch after the first 2 seasons of the league have been ruined and organising a good tournament for all the teams. PENRYN (1) 2 Rapsey 2’ Reeve 71’ POLPERRO (0) 0 ATT: 189 REF: Marc Rose 9/10 Got virtually everything spot on, tried to play advantage when possible. MOM: Mike Rickard (Polperro). Could have chosen 4/5 Penryn players easily but Mike had the game of his life to keep it to just 2 goals!! 👏🏼⚽️

Well done to the Trelawny League in providing competitive fixtures at the end of the season. I am sure all the players appreciated the opportunity to get their boots back on 👏

How do we know which players were approached, and who were either not available or interested? To get a squad of 17 to travel to NW London on a Saturday for a friendly match is pretty good going (know that the coach left Bodmin at 6am, and wouldn't think they were back there much before 11pm). Having watched the game, you could see from from the warm up routines and pre match rituals that the players looked very happy to be there. Putting together a team is sometimes more than just picking the best players for each position (although that is a big part of it), you also need the various characters and personalities to gel together. With Darren Gilbert and Andy Graham picking large blocks of players they knew well from their current clubs or who they had worked with in the past, they knew what they were getting.

Dave it’s the British way,if it’s going well then let’s destroy it.

Thanks for those kind words , I must admit having read my post again I feel a bit embarrassed as it my appear that I was asking for some sort of credit for supporting the crowdfunder and this was far from my intention . It was merely meant to shake some of the users consciences and get them to contribute 2 or 3 pounds . Apologies if this is how it was recieved .

Weren't Helston and Mousehole considered to be "weaker" teams 4-5 years ago? There is the opportunity for other clubs to challenge, it was great to see the likes of Camelford and Dobwalls taking on the more established clubs last season. Others could follow this lead. I suspect as well that a few players from the promoted clubs will decide (for their own reasons) not to make the step up, they could well appear in the SWPL next season.

Pleasure hosting the semi and final next week. All the best to both sides.

Wendron pitch was absolutely immaculate yesterday, could have eaten your dinner off it!! The whole ground is a pleasure these days, well done to Pete and everyone at Wendron for all their efforts to achieve this! Saw the goal of any season yesterday as well, what a strike!! 👏🏼👍⚽️ Well worth the £8 to get the mrs and mother in law in as well! Great refreshing attitude from Matt, I’m sure his lads won’t worry about the trip when they arrive and see the surface they’ll be playing the final on 👏🏼 Well done to Steve and all at the SPL for producing a really good tournament and getting the lads back playing meaningful football after 2 ruined seasons for them 👍⚽️

Crazy isn’t it? 5k+ users, £1 each = security for the forum for a good few years.

In a lot of ways I think it’ll make the league a bit more exciting and competitive. Instead of probably only 3 or 4 teams realistically in with a chance of winning it I think you’ve now got maybe 7 or 8? Shame to lose those big 3 but it’ll also be nice to support those Cornish clubs at the higher level and who knows, one might even win it!! Looking forward to next season to see how it all unfolds 👍⚽️

Having watched and blogged about a fair amount of football in Cornwall over the past few years, I was contacted by Home Radio, a station in the East Midlands, and asked to talk to their podcast about grassroots football. Follow this link homeradio.co.uk/podcasts/ to listen to what I said. I think it went quite well - although my answer to a question about Cornish football legends left something to be desired - and I was really positive about the state of the game in Cornwall. I may have got a few minor facts wrong here and there but it was a really enjoyable experience overall and I hope to talk to them again midway through next season. Of course, it's not a patch on Rappo and Deacs' weekly effort but it was still a great chance to spread the word about Cornish football. I hope you listen to and enjoy it.

From a supporters view, i think its a poor decision. As a supporter of St Blazey, the early cup draws against sides you dont play from one year to another like Probus, Illogan etc is part of the charm of cup football. Then you have the Illogan win at St Blazey years ago. A big upset and a great cup tie. Not that i was over the moon with it but surly thats what so called smaller clubs want to do on their big draw days. If i was playing thats surly the draws youd want against the likes of St Blazey, Bodmin, Falmouth, St Austell to name a few. Isnt the new set up just a glorified league cup set up?

100% agree, we certainly didn’t vote for change, surely everyone loves a giantkilling? It’s like saying the FA Cup will only be Premier League and Championship teams. (Sorry Sticker Forever just realised you’ve said exactly the same!) Don’t change a great old traditional, historic cup competition.

Thought this was one of those April Fools Day jokes until I looked at the calendar and it said May 19th!? Agree with Town man, can’t see how 21% of clubs would have voted for this let alone 71%! Everybody likes a giant killing surely? Like saying the FA Cup is only open to Premier league and Championship clubs? Keep the new cup maybe, only a few more games, and the St.Piran, East Cornwall and Combo are all short on numbers so would work but leave the old Senior Cup as it is, a great old competition

You've had your 5 minutes now Al, go back into hibernation.

Its perfectly fine, go to a game and have look at it.

Its brand new and perfectly acceptable.

Rappo was immense and Falmouth Town through and through, plus Tommy Mathews, Dodger Long, George Torrence, Neil Philips and to be honest many many more players from the 80's & 90's era. My reference in my comment was to the all conquering 70's side that i watched more than any other. 8 league titles on the bounce, (4 SWL & 4 WL) plus numerous cups. Every player that has pulled on the black & amber shirt and walked down those steps at Bickland Park is special. UTT

I can't believe we're still looking for this money to keep the forum alive. Every club in the county must use this forum to ask for friendlies, advertise their games, check out the gossip etc. There must be roughly 100 different clubs in Cornwall, so if every club gave 7 quid we be done. It's not alot to ask.

These players going to St Blazey have got to be the most disloyal players around. Same old faces that are hyped up so much but are completely overrated IMO. Just assembling the St Austell side of 3/4 years ago that looked past it back then 😆 If they prove me wrong and win the league, the same players will just leave as 'they don't want to travel'. St Blazey will pay the price in the end unfortunately.

100% not the case, really looking forward to the challenge if we get elected in. Lots of work been going on off the field to be prepared for the step up. As a club we will relish the challenge!

Well done for all your hard work JC, always brilliant to see clubs trying to improve themselves and their facilities 👍👏🏼👌⚽️

What a lovely looking pitch - Oh to be young enough to stroll round that on a Saturday

Pretty fair summary, congrats to Penryn, better side on the day. We needed to take one of those 3 early chances and didn’t.

The Callington Town Christmas party will be a good one this year.

Easy solution to me, do what I do. No face ache. No snap crap. No twatter, none of it, load of old tripe that does nothing but cause grief.

Thanks WOTP, that's really interesting. For those commenting that this was clearly a jolly, the names WOTP lists there are some seriously good players. Tayshan Hayden-Smith trained with Hampton last summer and is a really gifted player at Step Three, Maxwell Oldham was with Corinthian-Casuals at Step Three and Bedfont Sports at Step Four in the last two seasons, whilst McCallum spent last season with Dartford, one of the favourites in National League South. Big credit to the players and staff who represented Kernow.

Think you’re in credit for a few years Fenman!! Remember your generosity last year. I’ve chucked a tenner in every year which is nothing compared to you and I’m not after a medal or anything, Deacs and Chowner are good mates anyway but even if they weren’t I’d still happily throw that in to the pot to keep an excellent forum like this going! I notice it seems to be a lot of the same people every time. Like WOTP and JC said, just a quid off all the regular users would do it easy! Maybe Richard could set up a system where you pay a yearly subscription of say £3!? That would set the forums future up for years to come!? I’m sure any true lover of Cornish football could manage to part with that once a year!? NO PAY, NO SAY!! 😁 Got no problem paying £4/5 for a pint of beer or bout £7 for a pack of fags!?! Can’t believe how long this has dragged on trying to get blood out a stone!!! 🤔😳🙄

Congratulations Kernow on another proud day for the county, another great win by a quality squad of players. The Cascadia squad consisted of step 3 and 4 players so were by no means a walk over. OUR Kernow squad are very well balanced and play like a team that’s been together a lot longer than they actually have, so well done to players, coaches and management, at the end of the day you can only play what’s put in front of you. Once again Congratulations team 👏.

Having watched a fair bit of Western League football over the last two seasons - all three will be top half and I could easily see two of them challenging for the top slot - bearing in mind some good WL teams have moved sideways out of the WL. Just hope they can keep it going and actually use plenty of Cornish players. Personally think it’s a good move and will make the West SWPL more competitive next season - and that there are a few clubs that will surprise those who support the old guard teams - easy to forget the actual playing performance last season and just remember the big clubs.

At least they will have tried. As has been said before the more that try the easier it will get. This will only get better for the young players coming through, as they will get to play a better standard of football and hopefully a Cornish club can progress even further. Just look at Parkway some of our clubs were competing with them not that long ago.

Well said WOTP, lm sure they are up there all very proud watching the club grow. Remember playing against Parkway at Ernesettle and Brickfields and talking to Gez etc after the games. Fantastic to see where the club are today, look forward to watching a few games at Bolitho next season. Can see the club doing well and kicking on again, it’s in good hands with Lee & Matty driving the team on 👍👏🏼⚽️

(Not the Southern Premier, but the South & West Division) Doesn't feel as satisfying as going up as champions, but Parkway are deservedly promoted after three seasons (including two that were halted) in the top two of the Western League. Well done to the chairman, the board, the manager, the staff, the players and volunteers . From P&D division 4 as the Ex Air Flyers, via the Devon League, the South Western League and Peninsula League. From playing at Parkway Social Club pitch on Ernesettle Lane, via a temporary home at Brickfields, the nomadic season playing every match away and the early days at Bolitho with no stand, no floodlights and changing in porta kabins, to a modern ground and facilities that are the envy of many. A time as well to remember Jim Parsons and the others who were there at the beginning in park football, but never lived to see this.