BBC presenter Nick Knowles has bought into English Championship team Cornish Pirates, investing his own cash into the ambitious second-tier club. The DIY:SOS frontman, a keen rugby supporter, has taken his love for the game a step further. The Cornwall-based outfit are embarking on a new era, with a film crew set to document the club's rise and role in the community.
Exciting time for the Pirates
Knowles said: "It’s a very exciting time to be a player, or supporter of the Pirates. Investors are seeing the potential of the club and the scenic, historic and proud independent region it represents. A series that brings all this to a wider new audience can only be good for the club and Cornwall’s economy."
Pittsburgh-based Stonewood Capital Management took a stake in the club in May, which saw J Kenneth Moritz and John H Tippins joining the board of directors.
Ambassador for the club
Pirates chief executive Sally Pettipher told BBC Sport: "He's Cornish by choice. There's a spirit to the place that gets under your skin and he's been an ambassador for Cornish Pirates for over a season now already, he's in the crowd and people don't know. This investment, becoming a shareholder, is him putting some skin in the game and bringing with him his rugby heritage."
"He's got a rugby brain, he's got a rugby background, he's well connected in that world, he does an awful lot of philanthropy in that world and he brings visibility to us, which I think is really important. So the more eyes on we have, the more we can build our national and international audience. He is talented beyond what you see on screen and I'm very, very grateful for his input."
Premiership ambitions
The club have ambitions of making the step up from the Championship to the Gallagher Premiership under the new franchise-based system, but there are hurdles to overcome. Pettipher added: "There are many minimum standards that are required to become a Premiership club and one of those is a business plan that allows you to commercially exist. There's a new minimum standard that's come in which is a salary floor, so not just a salary cap. So the business plan has to support a £5m budget for your rugby players alone."
"People don't think about the fact that we only have 14 trading days a year, 14 home matches. So actually, what we have to do as a business is create a business that is working 365 days a year and is generating the sort of income that can support a club with a business plan required by the Premiership. The great thing about these new investors is they are very, very talented business people as well as rugby people. So adding in business brains and planning brains and information networks and contact networks is a gift that they give and an investment that they're putting in alongside the financials."
Caring for his wife
The 63-year-old took a step back from his TV work earlier this summer to take care of his wife Katie Dadzie, who had required urgent surgery. Knowles and Katie tied the knot in June 2025, but the 36-year-old businesswoman was taken into hospital in an emergency when her cervix ruptured following a hysterectomy not long after their nuptials. She was later informed she required another significant operation, prompting Knowles to leave his TV work to be by her side.
Knowles told the Daily Mail's Richard Eden that he needed to "disappear" for a while. He said: "I've been looking after my wife a lot because she has been through it. She's had a lot of tough times. She's got another operation coming up. I will disappear for a while because I'll be looking after her. I'm always worried [about her], but she's a warrior and a fighter, so I know she'll be fine."
