The club was formed in 1894 (or 1895) by a young curate of St Peter’s Church, the Rev Fred Peel Yates.Salmon, T. 1983. The First Hundred Years. Illogan: Cornwall Rugby Football Union. Before the founding of the club it was said that the young men of the village played a form of rugby on St Goulders Common and on moonlit nights a ball covered in chalk was used to make it easier to see.Batten, B. G. (1978) Newlyn, Penzance and the Pirates. Penzance: Penzance & Newlyn Rugby Football Club. In 1897–98 Newlyn RFC won the Cornwall Junior Cup, however the cup had to be returned to the Cornwall RFU because of an un-registered player. The following year the cup was won again. Newlyn, like many Cornish towns and villages, was hit by the migration of its young men and shortly after, the club disbanded only to restart in 1904 as a senior club.
