At least one player in the Cornish team was from Redruth. Jack Soloman, already making a name for himself in the Reds’ side before the War, was at the Front and helped to prepare the ground for one of the matches. He wrote back to the Cornishman, which described him as a ‘well-known Redruth rugby footballer.”
Soloman wrote:
‘Before we could start, we had to fill up a Jack Johnson hole in the ground, and there was a chance of a few more holes being made during the match. The Germans, however, left us alone, as perhaps they did not want to spoil our game.’
(West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Thursday 13th May 1915).
Soloman did not survive the War. The local historian, J. F. Richards, writing in 1925, describes the loss of such a promising player.
Amongst those players who gave their all for their country, one cannot forget James Solomon and Percy Lidgey, two very promising threequarters, and Joe Trethowan, who was developing into a fine scrum worker.
