Canada now has more registered rugby players than Italy and Wales

Canadian_Rugger · May 25, 2012

This was just posted on the Rugby Canada website

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[TD="bgcolor: black"]REAFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO RUGBY'S DEVELOPMENT

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Rugby Canada going from strength to strength
Participation on the rise
Road to Rio 2016 underway

Canada is perfectly positioned to reap the benefits of rugby 7s inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games thanks to the strong partnership between the Canadian Olympic Committee, Sport Canada, Own the Podium and Rugby Canada.

With a little over four years to go until the finest men's and women's rugby 7s athletes compete on the world's greatest sporting stage, the
foundations are firmly in place to deliver competitive teams for the qualification process and ensure that rugby continues its strong growth across Canada.

Rugby is booming in Canada. There are now in excess of 80,000 athletes, spanning from youth to adult, playing the sport across the country and with Olympic inclusion inspiring a new generation of athletes, Canada's men's and women's 7s and 15s programs continue to impress on the world stage.

The Canadian Men's 15s team enjoyed a solid Rugby World Cup 2011 campaign, defeating Tonga and pushing France close. The Men's 7s team now has coveted core status on the prestigious HSBC Sevens World Series, while the Women's 7s team is ranked amongst the best in the world, winning the inaugural IRB Women's Challenge Cup event in Dubai last November.

"We are delighted with and committed to our partnership with Rugby Canada. Rugby is a dynamic and inclusive team sport that embodies the Olympic values of respect, team work and fair play," said CEO of Own the Podium Anne Merklinger, speaking at a special Canadian Olympic Committee event at Sport Accord in Quebec. "We are working in collaboration with all stakeholders to jointly foster the game and ensure that our teams are in the best-possible position to qualify for and be highly-competitive on the world's greatest sporting stage."

"These are exciting times for rugby in Canada. We have more than 80,000 men, women and children actively participating in the game and interest and profile is certainly on a high," said Pat Aldous, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Rugby Canada. "Olympic inclusion has boosted interest, profile and participation in both 7s and 15s. Our men's and women's teams continue to do Canada proud on the world stage and we are very excited about rugby 7s Olympic Games debut in 2016."

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said that Olympic inclusion is benefitting national federations around the world.

"We are already seeing the enormous benefit of Olympic Games inclusion for our national federations and I am delighted that there is such a strong bond between Rugby Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee to foster the game in Canada and deliver strong national teams in 7s and 15s."[/QUOTE]

http://www.rugbycanada.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=3817&leagueID=0&page=61683

I can say compared to where rugby was 10 years ago in this country it is now on the up and gaining more and more of a profile. We had a little over 40,000 rugby players registered over 5 to 6 years ago and that number has nearly doubled in that time span making rugby one of the fastest growing sports in this country, Ontario alone now has over 25,000 boys in secondary school playing rugby. There is talk again about creating a national university championship for the men again and I believe with the olympics now including rugby this is far more likely to occur. Likewise the inclusion of "Own the Podium" money for rugby is going to pay huge dividends for our athletes. Canadians like Americans love the Olympics and as a result throw very large sums of money at sports in the olympics. I hope that this allows us to grow as a sport over the next few years and hopefully we can reach parity with the Celtic Nations over the next few years in terms of playing ability.

I have a feeling the sport is only going to get a bigger and bigger profile in this country as time goes on.[/TD]
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C

Canucks

Academy Player

May 27, 2012

#2

I think we're a good 10-15 years away to matching the Home nations. That is if things go the way they are now.

Rugby Canada has done a brilliant job recently:
-Excellent Coach who understands our attitudes in sport (the only team to play it's first team every game during the RWC.)
-The centre at Langford, BC. While I am upset that this was originally going to be with my Ex-Brits in Delta, it is going to be crucial for the development of future players. A top-notch facility in the warmest part of the country with access to the best league in the North America (next to CRC.)
-Poaching of other sports players. Getting rugby into secondary schools has been a big boost to this. Josh Jackson and Tkachuk were the first of many, now we have the likes of Hubert Buydens and Jason Marshall (average 8 tackles a game, massive for a prop.) This will be essential in the future as Football in Canada has been growing (see number of Canadians in NFL/CFL/NCAA from the 87/88/89 years.) In Canada, football already has a development structure that is working well but not every player makes the higher leagues and often has nowere to play after they cannot progress. This is how we got Jason Marshall. Could you imagine finding a top notch running back cut from a CFL team and having him decied to go back and play rugby?
-Change of style. No more boring, kicking for territory because we cannot attack worth anything rugby. This new style where we actually have a dangerous backline with versatile forwards will attract more people to the game.
-For the first time, Canadian players can actually earn a living playing rugby in Canada. Not a great one, but beats how it was before. Own the podium will be huge as it has proven to deliver results. As well, more Canadians playing abroad who will actually play for their country will help.
-Advertising and television - I expect the june games to be very well attended and a lot of that has to do with the RWC. TSN did a great job rebroadcasting games later in the day.

Sorry for rambling on, been awhile. The scary thing is if the USA followed our growth pattern I could see them winning an RWC just based on the sheer number of athletes they have.

M

Mat

Academy Player

Apr 20, 2015

#3

How a kid from country Australia went on to be Canadian Rugby all time leading point scorer!
https://newsroom.sporple.com/james-pritchard-canadian-rugby-great/
or check out James profile at https://www.sporple.com/james-pritchard
Or head to www.sporple.com

K

Kempistry

Academy Player

Apr 21, 2015

#4

Canadian_Rugger said:

This was just posted on the Rugby Canada website

[TABLE="width: 100%, align: left"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: black"]REAFFIRMING COMMITMENT TO RUGBY'S DEVELOPMENT
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="bgcolor: #DDDDDD"]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]

Rugby Canada going from strength to strength
Participation on the rise
Road to Rio 2016 underway

Canada is perfectly positioned to reap the benefits of rugby 7s inclusion in the 2016 Olympic Games thanks to the strong partnership between the Canadian Olympic Committee, Sport Canada, Own the Podium and Rugby Canada.

With a little over four years to go until the finest men's and women's rugby 7s athletes compete on the world's greatest sporting stage, the
foundations are firmly in place to deliver competitive teams for the qualification process and ensure that rugby continues its strong growth across Canada.

Rugby is booming in Canada. There are now in excess of 80,000 athletes, spanning from youth to adult, playing the sport across the country and with Olympic inclusion inspiring a new generation of athletes, Canada's men's and women's 7s and 15s programs continue to impress on the world stage.

The Canadian Men's 15s team enjoyed a solid Rugby World Cup 2011 campaign, defeating Tonga and pushing France close. The Men's 7s team now has coveted core status on the prestigious HSBC Sevens World Series, while the Women's 7s team is ranked amongst the best in the world, winning the inaugural IRB Women's Challenge Cup event in Dubai last November.

"We are delighted with and committed to our partnership with Rugby Canada. Rugby is a dynamic and inclusive team sport that embodies the Olympic values of respect, team work and fair play," said CEO of Own the Podium Anne Merklinger, speaking at a special Canadian Olympic Committee event at Sport Accord in Quebec. "We are working in collaboration with all stakeholders to jointly foster the game and ensure that our teams are in the best-possible position to qualify for and be highly-competitive on the world's greatest sporting stage."

"These are exciting times for rugby in Canada. We have more than 80,000 men, women and children actively participating in the game and interest and profile is certainly on a high," said Pat Aldous, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Rugby Canada. "Olympic inclusion has boosted interest, profile and participation in both 7s and 15s. Our men's and women's teams continue to do Canada proud on the world stage and we are very excited about rugby 7s Olympic Games debut in 2016."

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said that Olympic inclusion is benefitting national federations around the world.

"We are already seeing the enormous benefit of Olympic Games inclusion for our national federations and I am delighted that there is such a strong bond between Rugby Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee to foster the game in Canada and deliver strong national teams in 7s and 15s."

http://www.rugbycanada.ca/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=3817&leagueID=0&page=61683

I can say compared to where rugby was 10 years ago in this country it is now on the up and gaining more and more of a profile. We had a little over 40,000 rugby players registered over 5 to 6 years ago and that number has nearly doubled in that time span making rugby one of the fastest growing sports in this country, Ontario alone now has over 25,000 boys in secondary school playing rugby. There is talk again about creating a national university championship for the men again and I believe with the olympics now including rugby this is far more likely to occur. Likewise the inclusion of "Own the Podium" money for rugby is going to pay huge dividends for our athletes. Canadians like Americans love the Olympics and as a result throw very large sums of money at sports in the olympics. I hope that this allows us to grow as a sport over the next few years and hopefully we can reach parity with the Celtic Nations over the next few years in terms of playing ability.

I have a feeling the sport is only going to get a bigger and bigger profile in this country as time goes on.[/TD]
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I am not able to follow the link for whatever reason or find the original article.

I think that a major reason for the boost likely comes from minis programs, which didn't much exist ten years ago. Has Rugby Canada actually done something to initiate minis rugby or is this club driven? It surely can't hurt for the future, but I don't think it reflects the state of rugby today.

Personally I have seen a bit of a decline at the club level in rugby, both from a quality and numbers perspective. It is difficult for me to correctly ascertain, but I still think the sport as a weird hodge podge of disconnected pieces. I think support for grassroots rugby, particularly on the men's side, is waning. Costs have gone also up astronomically to the point where my dues are now $450 for 10 games. I would assume these are the most expensive dues in the world. This has had a negative impact on participation IMO.

On the whole I suppose the game is "OK" but I think it could be much more than it is and I don't believe Rugby Canada deserves much credit for the current state of the game. Most of the actual hard work is done at lower levels and Rugby Canada just basks in the collective glow produced by these individuals. I don't really see how they even deserve credit for the relative success of the 7s program given that it is mostly external funding that makes this possible.

One thing I will say is that the women's game is strong and growing. There aren't that many other sports for bigger/athletic women to play unlike for men. Also the club scene is still strong since this is legitimately "top-level" rugby for women...not so for the men's teams anymore.