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Rugby Canada

Founded	1974
IRB affiliation	1987
President	Rick Bourne
Men's coach	Kieran Crowley
Women's coach	John Long
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 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, established in 1929. Rugby Canada administers the Canada national rugby union team and sanctions the Super League, which is recognized as the Premier Level of men's competition in Canada. It has also entered into a partnership with the Welsh Rugby Union by which the regional franchise RGC 1404, whose primary role is developing the sport in North Wales, will have a secondary role of developing Canadian players for the national team.

History

Canadian Rugby Football Union

The Canadian Rugby Football Union was established in 1884 with the specific purpose of organizing 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 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.

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 six IRB Rugby World Cups (the first of which was 1987 in Australia and New Zealand).

As a regular in the IRB Sevens World Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings.

Provincial Rugby Unions in Canada

• British Columbia Rugby Union
  • Fraser Valley Rugby Union
  • Vancouver 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

See also

• Rugby union in Canada
• Canada national rugby union team
• Rugby Canada Super League
• RGC 1404
• Football Canada
• Grey Cup

External links

• Rugby Canada's Home Page
• Rugby in Canada Dot Com - A Canadian Rugby Portal
• Canadian Rugby Results and Events