CORNISH Pirates players and staff have been asked to take pay reductions, owner Dicky Evans has announced.

In a statement published from Kenya, where he resides, Evans revealed that the impact of coronavirus means that his luxury Hemingways hotel business in the country has no income.

With Kenya's government unable to provide the same level of assistance as the UK government has done, Evans' near-1,000 Hemingways employees have been put on leave and are receiving 65 per cent of their salaries funded by the business.

Owing to this, he has asked Pirates players and staff to take a "'One and All' approach to putting the club first" and take pay reductions, adding that head coaches Gavin Cattle and Alan Paver have already agreed to take "considerable" pay cuts.

He also confirmed that he has put a halt to all expenses surrounding the Stadium for Cornwall for the time being.

In a statement, Evans said: "As most people are aware, I am the main source of funding for all the player and staff contracts.

"When the news of the first financial hit by the RFU of circa £250k a year came along, I agreed with the board that I, along with some support from Martin Hudson, could meet the new budgets which were in place for next season's squad in full.

"However, with the current massive downturn in my business plus the money needed for the stadium it is apparent that I will have to raid the family savings again to meet the full costs of the extensive contracts in place.

"I have already put a halt to all expenses on the stadium going forward, especially as we are still awaiting the actual land transfer which was agreed pre-Christmas.

"I cannot in all honesty go to my family and ask for their assistance on raiding the family savings even more than normal without asking the players and staff to take a ‘One and All’ approach to putting the club first and flex on contractual terms in terms of pay reductions. It should be noted that the two head coaches have agreed to take considerable pay cuts already.

"We are still building for the future and would hope we have got back to normal for the 2021-22 season. The overall aim of this is to protect as many jobs as possible and ensure the Club survives through these turbulent times."