Rugby union in Canada
Encyclopedia
Rugby union
is a minority team sport in Canada
; it is relatively strong as a participation sport, particularly in several hotspots like British Columbia
and Newfoundland and Labrador
, but does not attract the same level of spectator support. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board
(IRB) as a tier two rugby nation alongside Fiji
, Japan
, Romania
, Samoa
, Tonga
and the USA
(there are ten tier one rugby nations). Tier two nations do not have a full-time professional domestic structure in place, but they are considered by the IRB to be the most promising countries in which to expand the sport. The Canadian national side
have competed in every world cup
to date yet have only won one match each tournament, with the exception of the 1991 tournament where they reached the quarterfinals.
Canada's two main problems have been geographical isolation and the sheer size of the country, which makes inter-province competition difficult - an additional problem is the climate, because many grounds are under snow/ice for significant portions of the year, leading to a split season. However, in terms of international rugby, Canada has not been so isolated, since European sides touring Australia and New Zealand, and vice versa, would frequently stop off there, in the days before proper long distance jet flight. As early as 1905, Dave Gallaher
's "Originals" from New Zealand played there, and a long line of All Blacks sides have played there.
Canada has long been a regional power in the sport, albeit in one of the sport's weaker regions. Argentina are the leading team in the Americas, usually followed by Canada, the United States and Uruguay.
Canada has around 13,000 seniors and twice as many junior players spread across the country, the leading domestic competitions are the Americas Rugby Championship
, a cross-border regional competition including the United States and Argentina, and the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship
for under-20 players organised solely within Canada by Rugby Canada
, the sports governing body.
Of the two rugby codes, rugby union is by far the more popular code in Canada whereas rugby league
has struggled to establish more than a negligible presence in the country. As a result, Canadian media usually refer to rugby union simply as rugby.
is the administrative body for rugby union in Canada. Every province also has its own union.
There is a considerable overlap between the early history of rugby in Canada, and the origins of Canadian football
.
Early forms of rugby football
were being played in Canada from 1823 onwards, in east Canadian towns such as Halifax
, Montreal
and Toronto
.
Rugby football
proper in Canada dates back to the 1860s. Introduction of the game and its early growth is usually credited to settlers from Britain and the British army and navy in Halifax, Nova Scotia
and Esquimalt, British Columbia
.
In 1864 the first recorded game of rugby in Canada took place in Montreal
, Quebec
amongst artillery men. It is most likely that rugby got its start in British Columbia
in the late 1860s or early 1870s when brief mentions of "football" appeared in print.
F. Barlow Cumberland and Fred A. Bethune first codified rules for rugby football in Canada, in 1865 at Trinity College, Toronto, and the first proper Canadian game of rugby took place in 1865 when officers of an English regiment played local civilians, mainly from McGill University
.
Rugby is also an ancestor of Canadian football
, currently its main competitor. A "running game", resembling rugby, was taken up by the Montreal Football Club
in Canada in 1868. By the late 19th century, the game was popular in Vancouver
on the west coast.
Early Canadian rugby clubs included the following:
The first major figure in the introduction of rugby to Canada was Alfred St. George Hamersley
of Marlborough, an Englishman, who had played in the first Calcutta Cup
match in 1871, and he helped establish the game in British Columbia
. The game took root there, and as the Canadian Encyclopedia says:
The first recorded game in British Columbia was played on Vancouver Island
in 1876, between members of the Royal Navy and the Army. It was played regularly after this in Victoria
by local players and sailors on the British ships stationed at Esquimalt.
The first club was formed in 1868. At that time no international agreed set of rules existed and the Rugby Football Union
of England would not publish its official set of rules until 1871. Shortly after the game in Montreal, Trinity College in Toronto
published the first set of Canadian rugby rules.
The Canada RFU was founded in 1882, and administered Canadian Football
- after this, Canadian rugby fell back to a provincial level, taking administrative directions directly from the English Rugby Football Union
. Despite such encroachments, rugby remained popular in some parts of Canada, notably British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, particularly around Toronto
.
By a happy coincidence, Canada's two main languages are English and French, meaning that it has long been influenced by not only the Commonwealth, but the French rugby community.
As early as 1902, a Canadian XV toured the British Isles. And
in 1908, the British Columbia rugby union team travelled to California
to play the All Blacks.
There was a brief resurgence in the sport, but that was halted with the onset of World War I
. From 1914 to 1919, only in British Columbia and Nova Scotia were there the numbers for semi-regular rugby. In most other areas the game was not played on a regular basis. It has been suggested that some kept rugby alive during the period in an effort to boost morale during the war.
Following World War I, there was an increase in rugby in Canada, as servicemen rejoined their previous clubs. In 1919, a Canadian Services team, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, took part in an Inter-Services Championship played in Great Britain. The Championship consisted of matches played between six service teams from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, with the final played at Twickenham. The Rugby Union of Canada was formed in 1929, which was followed by a tour of Japan by a Canadian side.
During World War II the sport was only played on a limited basis, with most games being played involving mainly members of the Commonwealth Forces. In 1949, there were only three active provincial unions—British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
Queen's University RFC
, from Belfast
toured British Columbia in 1953.
In 1958, the Carling Cup was set up, which was won by British Columbia, but which lay dormant between 1959-66. British Columbia retained the cup until Ontario won it in 1971.
Canada first broke through into the top rank of rugby nations when it beat a touring Scotland
side in 1991, and this was followed by an outstanding performance in the 1991 Rugby World Cup
, in which they beat Romania
and Fiji
, and were narrowly beaten by France
, reaching the quarterfinals. In 1992, they compounded their success by beating Wales
26-24.
Although it was first introduced into eastern Canada
, British Columbia
has long been seen as the traditional centre of the Canadian game, and although there have often been as many players in Ontario
as BC, there has been a steady drift westward of players. This westward drift has ensured that Canadian rugby now has an outlook to the Pacific Rim
, rather than one merely fed by a heritage of largescale British emigration.
Confusingly, in Canada, Canadian football
has also frequently been referred to as "rugby football
", and a number of national and provincial bodies were called "Rugby Football Unions" or "Rugby Unions", such as the Ontario Rugby Football Union
, Quebec Rugby Football Union
. For example, in the Encyclopedia Canadiana, the entry Rugby Football begins "the Canadian development of rugby union or "English rugger" introduced into Canada in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.", but admits later that "the Canadian game is a radical departure from rugby union". Canadian football is in fact a descendent of the rugby code.
The first documented gridiron football
match was a game played at University College
, University of Toronto
on November 9, 1861. A football club was formed at the university soon afterwards, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.
In 1864, at Trinity College
, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football
. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in Montreal
, in 1865, when British Army
officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club
was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club
in Canada.
This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's McGill University
. McGill challenged Harvard University
to a game, in 1874. It is through this varsity play that the game now known as American football
entered the United States.
Predecessors of the Canadian Football League
include the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), and the Canadian Rugby Union
. The CRFU, original forerunner to the current Canadian Football League, was established in 1882. 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 organization (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 1967 that the original CRU finally cleared up this confusion by renaming itself the Canadian Amateur Football Association; it adopted its current name of Football Canada
in 1986.
, when they reached the quarter finals beating out Fiji
and Romania
before narrowly losing 19-13 to France
in the pool stage then New Zealand
in the quarter final.
Canada managed only one win in the 1987 Rugby World Cup
(against Tonga) 1995 Rugby World Cup
(against Romania) 1999 Rugby World Cup
(against Namibia) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup
(against Tonga) and a draw in the 2007 Rugby World Cup
(against Japan).
was a tournament conducted from 2003 through 2011, intended to help build depth in rugby in Canada and the USA
, and an opportunity to develop new players for the England national team. The New Zealand Māori also competed in most of the tournament's editions. Although Canada was one of the three regular teams in the Churchill Cup, they never made the final until 2010, losing out to the England Saxons
(that country's "A" national side). They also lost to England Saxons in the final of the last Churchill Cup in 2011. Rugby Canada, USA Rugby
, and the Rugby Football Union
of England all agreed to end the Churchill Cup after the 2011 edition, as both Canada and the USA will be included in the IRB's international Test schedule starting in 2012.
in the Super Powers Cup
. In 2005 Canada won the tournament beating Japan
15-10. The competition was discontinued in 2005 but representatives of Canada, USA, Russia and Japan have met to discuss reviving the competition, starting in November 2010.
, an annual competition established by the IRB and designed to help grow the sport in Canada and the USA. It is the successor to the North America 4
, established in 2006 for the same purpose. The NA4 involved four regionally-based teams, two each from Canada and the USA. The ARC, launched in 2009, includes four Canadian teams:
These teams are joined by the Argentina Jaguars, which have now become the country's "A" (second-level) national team, and a "USA Select XV", an "A" national team in all but name.
When the ARC was established, Rugby Canada decided to scrap its former semi-professional national competition, the Rugby Canada Super League.
Since 2009, the top age-grade competition in the country is the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship
, involving under-20 teams. It was established as a replacement for the Super League, and most of the clubs that fielded teams in that league now send under-20 teams to the National Junior Championship.
By 1999, thirty women's clubs were registered in Canada.
. It is most popular on Vancouver Island
and the Lower Mainland
in British Columbia
on the west coast, and Newfoundland
, where rugby is considered to be the most popular summer sport.
Rugby in British Columbia has had a strong international flavour, with the University of British Columbia
playing a regular series against the University of California, and representative BC sides have made tours to Japan and England.
Up until just after the Second World War, rugby union was very popular on the west coast, and the east coast respectively. However, despite increasing interest in the Canadian football strongholds of Quebec and Ontario, rugby union was weakened in its western and eastern strongholds, particularly the latter. Despite its battle for survival, rugby has managed to maintain a presence in all parts of Canada.
Rugby in the Central Provinces
was reinforced partially by immigration from other Commonwealth Countries.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
is a minority team sport in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
; it is relatively strong as a participation sport, particularly in several hotspots like British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, but does not attract the same level of spectator support. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
(IRB) as a tier two rugby nation alongside Fiji
Rugby union in Fiji
Rugby union is a popular team sport that is played in Fiji. It is considered to be the national sport of the country. The sport was introduced in the 1880s. Fiji is defined as a tier two rugby nation by the International Rugby Board . The national team has competed at the Rugby World Cup and made...
, Japan
Rugby union in Japan
Rugby union in Japan is a popular sport. Japan has the fourth largest population of rugby union players in the world and the sport has been played there for over a century...
, Romania
Rugby union in Romania
Rugby union is a fairly popular team sport played in Romania with a tradition of more than 90 years. Romania's men's national team was 18th in the IRB World Rankings as of July 2011. -Governing body:...
, Samoa
Rugby union in Samoa
Rugby union is the national sport of Samoa, and the national teams in both the standard 15-man game and its seven-man variant are consistently competitive against teams from vastly more populous nations.-Governing body:...
, Tonga
Rugby union in Tonga
Rugby union is the national sport of Tonga. Tonga are considered to be a tier 2 rugby nation by the International Rugby Board.Tonga has four main rugby playing islands, Vava'u which produced players like Epi Taione, Ha'apai which produced players like Jonah Lomu, Eua which produced the Vunipola...
and the USA
Rugby union in the United States
Rugby union in the United States is a growing national sport. It is played at the youth, high school, club, semi-professional, and international levels. The United States is a Tier 2 rugby nation, as defined by the International Rugby Board, which means that it is not currently competitive at the...
(there are ten tier one rugby nations). Tier two nations do not have a full-time professional domestic structure in place, but they are considered by the IRB to be the most promising countries in which to expand the sport. The Canadian national side
Canada national rugby union team
The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and seven tier two nations, the...
have competed in every world cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
to date yet have only won one match each tournament, with the exception of the 1991 tournament where they reached the quarterfinals.
Canada's two main problems have been geographical isolation and the sheer size of the country, which makes inter-province competition difficult - an additional problem is the climate, because many grounds are under snow/ice for significant portions of the year, leading to a split season. However, in terms of international rugby, Canada has not been so isolated, since European sides touring Australia and New Zealand, and vice versa, would frequently stop off there, in the days before proper long distance jet flight. As early as 1905, Dave Gallaher
Dave Gallaher
David "Dave" Gallaher was a New Zealand rugby union footballer, best known as the captain of "The Originals", the first New Zealand national rugby union team to be known as the All Blacks....
's "Originals" from New Zealand played there, and a long line of All Blacks sides have played there.
Canada has long been a regional power in the sport, albeit in one of the sport's weaker regions. Argentina are the leading team in the Americas, usually followed by Canada, the United States and Uruguay.
Canada has around 13,000 seniors and twice as many junior players spread across the country, the leading domestic competitions are the Americas Rugby Championship
Americas Rugby Championship
The Americas Rugby Championship is a rugby union competition contested by national and regional teams from North and South America. The league has replaced the IRB's previous North American competition, the North America 4....
, a cross-border regional competition including the United States and Argentina, and the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship
Rugby Canada National Junior Championship
The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship is a new amateur rugby union competition in Canada. The league was created when Rugby Canada decided to disband the Rugby Canada Super League and replace it with a new under-20 league. The league consists of 13 teams, and are broken up into 4...
for under-20 players organised solely within Canada by Rugby Canada
Rugby 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 Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of...
, the sports governing body.
Of the two rugby codes, rugby union is by far the more popular code in Canada whereas rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
has struggled to establish more than a negligible presence in the country. As a result, Canadian media usually refer to rugby union simply as rugby.
Governing body
Rugby CanadaRugby 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 Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of...
is the administrative body for rugby union in Canada. Every province also has its own union.
History
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
.
Early forms of rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
were being played in Canada from 1823 onwards, in east Canadian towns such as Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
proper in Canada dates back to the 1860s. Introduction of the game and its early growth is usually credited to settlers from Britain and the British army and navy in Halifax, Nova Scotia
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
and Esquimalt, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
In 1864 the first recorded game of rugby in Canada took place in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
amongst artillery men. It is most likely that rugby got its start in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in the late 1860s or early 1870s when brief mentions of "football" appeared in print.
F. Barlow Cumberland and Fred A. Bethune first codified rules for rugby football in Canada, in 1865 at Trinity College, Toronto, and the first proper Canadian game of rugby took place in 1865 when officers of an English regiment played local civilians, mainly from McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
.
Rugby is also an ancestor of Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
, currently its main competitor. A "running game", resembling rugby, was taken up by the Montreal Football Club
Montreal Football Club
The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of the QRFU and played in the first football game in...
in Canada in 1868. By the late 19th century, the game was popular in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
on the west coast.
Early Canadian rugby clubs included the following:
- Montreal FC, founded 1868.
- Halifax FC, founded 1870.
- Winnipeg FC, founded 1879
- Vancouver RFC, founded 1889.
The first major figure in the introduction of rugby to Canada was Alfred St. George Hamersley
Alfred St. George Hamersley
Alfred St. George Hamersley was a nineteenth-century solicitor and entrepreneur of great renown, an English MP and perhaps most notably an English rugby union international who played in the first ever international match, went on to captain his country and pioneered the sport in the south of New...
of Marlborough, an Englishman, who had played in the first Calcutta Cup
Calcutta Cup
The Calcutta Cup is a rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of the annual Six Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. It is currently England's since the 2009 Six Nations Championship....
match in 1871, and he helped establish the game in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The game took root there, and as the Canadian Encyclopedia says:
- "Vancouver, which, owing to its favourable climate and strong British tradition, became the game's stronghold."
The first recorded game in British Columbia was played on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
in 1876, between members of the Royal Navy and the Army. It was played regularly after this in Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
by local players and sailors on the British ships stationed at Esquimalt.
The first club was formed in 1868. At that time no international agreed set of rules existed and the Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
of England would not publish its official set of rules until 1871. Shortly after the game in Montreal, Trinity College in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
published the first set of Canadian rugby rules.
The Canada RFU was founded in 1882, and administered Canadian Football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
- after this, Canadian rugby fell back to a provincial level, taking administrative directions directly from the English Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
. Despite such encroachments, rugby remained popular in some parts of Canada, notably British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Ontario, particularly around Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
By a happy coincidence, Canada's two main languages are English and French, meaning that it has long been influenced by not only the Commonwealth, but the French rugby community.
As early as 1902, a Canadian XV toured the British Isles. And
in 1908, the British Columbia rugby union team travelled to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
to play the All Blacks.
There was a brief resurgence in the sport, but that was halted with the onset of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. From 1914 to 1919, only in British Columbia and Nova Scotia were there the numbers for semi-regular rugby. In most other areas the game was not played on a regular basis. It has been suggested that some kept rugby alive during the period in an effort to boost morale during the war.
Following World War I, there was an increase in rugby in Canada, as servicemen rejoined their previous clubs. In 1919, a Canadian Services team, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, took part in an Inter-Services Championship played in Great Britain. The Championship consisted of matches played between six service teams from Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, with the final played at Twickenham. The Rugby Union of Canada was formed in 1929, which was followed by a tour of Japan by a Canadian side.
During World War II the sport was only played on a limited basis, with most games being played involving mainly members of the Commonwealth Forces. In 1949, there were only three active provincial unions—British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
Queen's University RFC
Queen's University RFC
Queen's University Rugby Football Club is the rugby union team of Queen's University Belfast. Founded in 1869, it is the second oldest rugby union club in Northern Ireland . They originally played as Queen's College, Belfast and have won the Ulster Senior Cup a record 21 times...
, from Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
toured British Columbia in 1953.
In 1958, the Carling Cup was set up, which was won by British Columbia, but which lay dormant between 1959-66. British Columbia retained the cup until Ontario won it in 1971.
Canada first broke through into the top rank of rugby nations when it beat a touring Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...
side in 1991, and this was followed by an outstanding performance in the 1991 Rugby World Cup
1991 Rugby World Cup
The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France; at that time, the five European countries that participated in the Five Nations Championship making it the first Rugby World Cup to be staged in the...
, in which they beat Romania
Romania national rugby union team
The Romania national rugby union team , nicknamed The Oaks , is the representative side of Romania in rugby union. Long considered one of the stronger European teams outside the Six Nations, they have participated in all six Rugby World Cups, and currently compete in the first division of the...
and Fiji
Fiji national rugby union team
The Fiji national rugby union team is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance formerly along with Samoa and Tonga. In 2009, Samoa announced their departure from the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, leaving just Fiji and Tonga. Fiji are ranked sixteenth in the world by the IRB as of 26...
, and were narrowly beaten by France
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
, reaching the quarterfinals. In 1992, they compounded their success by beating Wales
Wales national rugby union team
The Wales national rugby union team represent Wales in international rugby union tournaments. They compete annually in the Six Nations Championship with England, France, Ireland, Italy and Scotland. Wales have won the Six Nations and its predecessors 24 times outright, second only to England with...
26-24.
Although it was first introduced into eastern Canada
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
has long been seen as the traditional centre of the Canadian game, and although there have often been as many players in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
as BC, there has been a steady drift westward of players. This westward drift has ensured that Canadian rugby now has an outlook to the Pacific Rim
Pacific Rim
The Pacific Rim refers to places around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The term "Pacific Basin" includes the Pacific Rim and islands in the Pacific Ocean...
, rather than one merely fed by a heritage of largescale British emigration.
Rugby and Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
has also frequently been referred to as "rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
", and a number of national and provincial bodies were called "Rugby Football Unions" or "Rugby Unions", such as the Ontario Rugby Football Union
Ontario Rugby Football Union
The Ontario Rugby Football Union or ORFU was an early amateur Canadian football league with teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded in 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt the Burnside Rules, from which the modern Canadian football code would...
, Quebec Rugby Football Union
Quebec Rugby Football Union
The Quebec Rugby Football Union was a football league consisting of teams from Quebec and formed in 1883. Eastern Ontario teams like Ottawa City and Ottawa College joined in 1894.- League Formation and Play :...
. For example, in the Encyclopedia Canadiana, the entry Rugby Football begins "the Canadian development of rugby union or "English rugger" introduced into Canada in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.", but admits later that "the Canadian game is a radical departure from rugby union". Canadian football is in fact a descendent of the rugby code.
The first documented gridiron football
Gridiron football
Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
match was a game played at University College
University College, University of Toronto
University College is a constituent college of the University of Toronto, created in 1853 specifically as an institution of higher learning free of religious affiliation. It was the founding member of the university's modern collegiate system, and its secularism contrasted with contemporary...
, University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
on November 9, 1861. A football club was formed at the university soon afterwards, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.
In 1864, at Trinity College
University of Trinity College
The University of Trinity College, informally referred to as Trin, is a college of the University of Toronto, founded in 1851 by Bishop John Strachan. Trinity was intended by Strachan as a college of strong Anglican alignment, after the University of Toronto severed its ties with the Church of...
, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, in 1865, when British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club
Montreal Football Club
The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of the QRFU and played in the first football game in...
was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club
Oldest football club
The history of the formation of the oldest football clubs is of interest to sport historians in tracing the origins of the modern codes of football from casual pastime to early organised competition and mainstream sport. Many early clubs did not use the word "football" in their name...
in Canada.
This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal's McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. McGill challenged Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to a game, in 1874. It is through this varsity play that the game now known as American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
entered the United States.
Predecessors of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
include the Canadian Rugby Football Union (CRFU), and the Canadian Rugby Union
Canadian Rugby Union
The Canadian Rugby Union may refer to:*Football Canada, the governing body of amateur Canadian football in Canada, previously known as the Canadian Rugby Union from 1892 to 1967....
. The CRFU, original forerunner to the current Canadian Football League, was established in 1882. Representatives from the Montreal (Rugby) Football club (now known as the Westmount Rugby Club
Westmount Rugby Club
The Westmount Rugby Club is a rugby club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest active rugby club in North America. The club was founded in 1876 under the title of Montreal Football Club, and played its matches at the McGill University grounds...
), 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 organization (also known at different times as the Canadian Rugby Union) was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
, as rugby football
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
evolved into Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
. To make matters more confusing the word rugby continued to be applied to Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
. It was not until 1967 that the original CRU finally cleared up this confusion by renaming itself the Canadian Amateur Football Association; it adopted its current name of Football Canada
Football Canada
Football Canada is the governing body for amateur Canadian football. It is Canada's representative member of the International Federation of American Football , the world's governing body for American football.-History:...
in 1986.
Rugby World Cup
The Canadian national team have competed in every world cup since the first tournament held in 1987. The team's best result came during the 1991 tournament, held in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, when they reached the quarter finals beating out Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
before narrowly losing 19-13 to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the pool stage then New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in the quarter final.
Canada managed only one win in the 1987 Rugby World Cup
1987 Rugby World Cup
The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. New Zealand and Australia agreed to co-host the first ever tournament with New Zealand hosting seventeen pool stage matches, two quarter-finals and the final with Australia being the junior partner hosting seven pool matches, two...
(against Tonga) 1995 Rugby World Cup
1995 Rugby World Cup
The 1995 Rugby World Cup was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country....
(against Romania) 1999 Rugby World Cup
1999 Rugby World Cup
The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, and the first to be held in rugby union's professional era. The principal host nation was Wales, although the majority of matches were played outside the country, shared between England, France, Scotland and Ireland...
(against Namibia) and the 2003 Rugby World Cup
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and Rugby World...
(against Tonga) and a draw in the 2007 Rugby World Cup
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...
(against Japan).
Churchill Cup
The Churchill CupChurchill Cup
The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams from a wide array of countries....
was a tournament conducted from 2003 through 2011, intended to help build depth in rugby in Canada and the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and an opportunity to develop new players for the England national team. The New Zealand Māori also competed in most of the tournament's editions. Although Canada was one of the three regular teams in the Churchill Cup, they never made the final until 2010, losing out to the England Saxons
England Saxons
England Saxons is the current name of England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England A...
(that country's "A" national side). They also lost to England Saxons in the final of the last Churchill Cup in 2011. Rugby Canada, USA Rugby
USA Rugby
USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...
, and the Rugby Football Union
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
of England all agreed to end the Churchill Cup after the 2011 edition, as both Canada and the USA will be included in the IRB's international Test schedule starting in 2012.
Super Powers Cup
In 2004 and 2005 Canada replaced ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in the Super Powers Cup
Super Powers Cup
The Super Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Russia and the United States. It was previously known as the Super Powers Cup....
. In 2005 Canada won the tournament beating Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
15-10. The competition was discontinued in 2005 but representatives of Canada, USA, Russia and Japan have met to discuss reviving the competition, starting in November 2010.
Americas Rugby Championship
Rugby Canada participates in the Americas Rugby ChampionshipAmericas Rugby Championship
The Americas Rugby Championship is a rugby union competition contested by national and regional teams from North and South America. The league has replaced the IRB's previous North American competition, the North America 4....
, an annual competition established by the IRB and designed to help grow the sport in Canada and the USA. It is the successor to the North America 4
North America 4
North America 4, also known as IRB North America 4 often abbreviated to NA4, was a North American rugby union competition launched in 2006...
, established in 2006 for the same purpose. The NA4 involved four regionally-based teams, two each from Canada and the USA. The ARC, launched in 2009, includes four Canadian teams:
- BC BearsBritish Columbia BearsThe British Columbia Bears are the senior men's representative rugby team for British Columbia. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argentina, and the United States...
, representing British Columbia - Prairie Wolf PackPrairie Wolf PackThe Prairie Wolf Pack is a Canadian rugby union team representing the Prairies region in the Canadian Rugby Championship. The Wolf Pack's inaugural season includes a home game at the Calgary Rugby Park against The Rock and away games at the BC Bears and Ontario Blues.-Current squad:Squad for the...
, representing the Prairie Provinces - Ontario BluesOntario BluesThe Ontario Blues are the senior men's representative rugby team for Ontario. They were founded in 2009 to compete in the Americas Rugby Championship against other representative teams from Canada, Argentina, and the United States...
, representing that province - The RockThe Rock (rugby team)The Rock, also known as the Atlantic Rock, are a Canadian rugby union team based in St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador. The team plays in the Canadian Rugby Championship and is intended to draw most of its players from the rugby unions of Canada's five Eastern provinces: Quebec, New Brunswick,...
, representing Atlantic CanadaAtlantic CanadaAtlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
plus Quebec
These teams are joined by the Argentina Jaguars, which have now become the country's "A" (second-level) national team, and a "USA Select XV", an "A" national team in all but name.
When the ARC was established, Rugby Canada decided to scrap its former semi-professional national competition, the Rugby Canada Super League.
Age Grade Rugby
The Junior Inter-Provincial Championship was started in 1976, and in 1982, Canada started up a junior national team, which played Welsh Schoolboys in 1983 and 1986, and England Colts in 1985.Since 2009, the top age-grade competition in the country is the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship
Rugby Canada National Junior Championship
The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship is a new amateur rugby union competition in Canada. The league was created when Rugby Canada decided to disband the Rugby Canada Super League and replace it with a new under-20 league. The league consists of 13 teams, and are broken up into 4...
, involving under-20 teams. It was established as a replacement for the Super League, and most of the clubs that fielded teams in that league now send under-20 teams to the National Junior Championship.
Women's Rugby in Canada
In 1983, the Western Canada Women's Championship was established.By 1999, thirty women's clubs were registered in Canada.
Popularity
The sport is played across Canada, with clubs even in places like YukonYukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
. It is most popular on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
and the Lower Mainland
Lower Mainland
The Lower Mainland is a name commonly applied to the region surrounding and including Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As of 2007, 2,524,113 people live in the region; sixteen of the province's thirty most populous municipalities are located there.While the term Lower Mainland has been...
in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
on the west coast, and Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, where rugby is considered to be the most popular summer sport.
Rugby in British Columbia has had a strong international flavour, with the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
playing a regular series against the University of California, and representative BC sides have made tours to Japan and England.
Up until just after the Second World War, rugby union was very popular on the west coast, and the east coast respectively. However, despite increasing interest in the Canadian football strongholds of Quebec and Ontario, rugby union was weakened in its western and eastern strongholds, particularly the latter. Despite its battle for survival, rugby has managed to maintain a presence in all parts of Canada.
Rugby in the Central Provinces
Central Provinces
The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur....
was reinforced partially by immigration from other Commonwealth Countries.
See also
- Rugby CanadaRugby CanadaRugby Canada, is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of...
- Canada national rugby union teamCanada national rugby union teamThe Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black. Canada is classified by the International Rugby Board as a tier two rugby nation. There are ten tier one nations, and seven tier two nations, the...
- Sport in CanadaSport in CanadaSports in Canada consists of a variety of games. Although there are many contests that Canada value, the most common are Ice hockey, Lacrosse, Canadian football, basketball, soccer, curling and baseball...
- Canada national rugby union team (sevens)Canada national rugby union team (sevens)The Canadian national rugby union sevens team compete in the IRB Sevens World Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Pan American Games and the Commonwealth Games.-Current squad:12-man squad for the 2011 Dubai Sevens:-See also:* World Sevens Series...
External links
- Rugby Canada site
- Rugby in Canada Dot Com Archives du Rugby: Canada
- Rugby on the Canadian Encyclopedia