Rugby Canada

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Rugby Canada
Founded 1974
IRB affiliation 1987
President Roger Smith
Men's coach Ric Suggitt
Women's coach Neil Langevin
Official website
www.rugbycanada.ca
This article is about the national governing body for Canada rugby union. For the article about rugby union in Canada, please see the article: Rugby union in Canada.

Rugby Canada, is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the now-defunct Canadian Rugby Football Union and Rugby Union of Canada, established in 1884 and 1929 respectively. Rugby Canada administers the Canada national rugby union team and sanctions the Super League, which is recognised as the Premier Level of men's competition in Canada.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Canadian Rugby Football Union

The Canadian Rugby Football Union was established in 1884 with the specific purpose of organising play-off games between various union champions. Representatives from the Montreal (Rugby) Football club (now known as the Westmount Rugby Club), the Toronto Rugby Football Club and from the Hamilton Rugby Football Club had meetings in Toronto and Montreal. It was decided that the union would continue to use the English rugby rules, and at the end of the season the winning club of the Quebec Championship would play the Ontario Champion for the Club Championship of the Dominion.

This organisation (also known at different times as the Canadian Rugby Union) was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League, as rugby football in Canada evolved into Canadian football. To make matters more confusing the word rugby continued to be applied to Canadian football. It was not until the latter half of the 20th century that the original CRU finally cleared up this confusion by renaming itself Football Canada.

[edit] Rugby Union of Canada

The Rugby Union of Canada, re-formed in 1965 as the Canadian Rugby Union with British Columbia’s Bob Spray as its first president. It was incorporated in 1974 and is affiliated to the International Rugby Board (IRB). Since then, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on the global rugby scene, including trips to each of the five IRB Rugby World Cups (the first of which was 1987 in Australia and New Zealand).

As a regular on the IRB Sevens Circuit, Canada continues to climb the world rankings.

[edit] Provincial Rugby Unions in Canada

  • British Columbia Rugby Union
  • New Brunswick Rugby Union
  • Newfoundland Rugby Union
  • Ontario Rugby Union
  • PEI Rugby Union
  • Rugby Alberta
  • Rugby Manitoba
  • Rugby Nova Scotia
  • Rugby Quebec
  • Saskatchewan Rugby Union

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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