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 Rugby Canada National Junior Championship , a national competition for under-20 men's teams. It previously sanctioned the Super League as the premier level of men's competition in the country, but scrapped that league after the Americas Rugby Championship was created in 2009 as a two-stage competition in which the first involved only Canadian teams.
27-816: 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 Football club (now known as the Westmount Rugby Club ), the Toronto Rugby Football Club and the Hamilton Rugby Football Club, had meetings in Toronto and Montreal. The union continued to use the English rugby rules, and at
54-758: A good part of the 1970s several Ottawa based rugby teams regularly completed in the QRU, including the Ottawa Indians, Ottawa Irish, Ottawa Beavers, Ottawa Scottish and the Deep River Blues. Of particular importance was the entry of the Club de rugby Parc olympique into the FRQ, as it was the first primarily francophone team in the federation. The FRQ experienced substantial growth in the past two decades, and has added many new clubs, especially because rugby now enjoys
81-580: A team in 1874, Westmount, which claims to have been established in 1876, is the oldest independent (as opposed to college-affiliated) rugby club in North America. Under the title of Montreal Football Club, the club played its matches at the McGill University grounds. The club gathered for social matches and occasions, and never really grew in size until it associated itself with the newly founded Montreal Amateur Athletic Association – which
108-507: A “Scottish-only” policy by turning away many non-Scottish players. These “exiled” players eventually formed local clubs such as The Montreal Wanderers Rugby Football Club and The Montreal Barbarians Rugby Club. Soon after, noting that this “Scottish-only” policy was not sustainable, the club policy became open to all players of all backgrounds, and the club name changed to the Westmount Rugby Football Club, named after
135-732: The World Rugby Sevens Series . National teams National 7s teams Canada has four Rugby Teams that are also part of International Gay Rugby ; Montreal Armada , Toronto Muddy York , Ottawa Wolves , and the Vancouver Rogues . In 2022 the international Bingham Cup was held in Ottawa , Ontario . Westmount Rugby Club The Westmount Rugby Football Club is a Canadian rugby club based in Westmount , Quebec . Despite McGill University having
162-577: The 1920s and 1930s many clubs made the transition to professional or semi-professional football. Regardless, several leagues were formed during the 1950s that were not associated with the Québec Rugby Union. This changed in the later 1960s and in the late 1970s the union officially changed its name to the Fédération de Rugby du Québec. The FRQ has many differing levels and types of competition. There are two predominate competitions that have
189-617: The B Division of the Rugby Quebec , winning the C division championship in 2011. The home field is Westmount Park field, in Westmount. It currently has one competitive men's team, one social men's team, one women's competitive/social team, a juniors program and a minis program. In 2016 the women's team had an undefeated season and won the Development Division Championship. In 2017 they were promoted to
216-794: The FRQ league. Rugby Quebec Rugby Québec is the popular name of the Fédération de Rugby du Québec (formerly the Québec Rugby Union ) which is the provincial governing body for the sport of rugby union in the Canadian province of Québec . The Fédération de Rugby du Québec is affiliated with the Canadian Rugby Union . The Fédération de Rugby du Québec origins are hard to trace for two reasons. First, rugby union in Canada converged with and then later split from
243-825: The Hamilton Rugby Football Club to 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. With the amalgamation of the Montreal (Rugby) Football Club into the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in 1885,
270-583: The Jubilee Celebration of Queen Victoria's reign. At the turn of the century a new quarters was needed to accommodate a rapidly growing membership. In 1905, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association clubhouse moved to Peel Street (where it currently resides), and the Westmount Athletic Grounds was retained as the club's official athletic grounds until July 1936. The economic depression inflicted severe financial problems upon
297-628: The McGill University grounds and the nearby Montreal Amateur Athletic Association facility as clubroom, even though it was not formally associated with the Association until 1885. Also in 1884, the Montreal (Rugby) Football club was instrumental in the formation of the Canadian Rugby Union. Three representatives from the Montreal Club were sent to meet with two representatives from the Toronto Rugby Football Club, and one from
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#1732801376735324-591: The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association to form a semi-professional club. Rugby continued at the Westmount Athletic Grounds until 1959, when the Athletic facility was demolished to make way for Westmount High School, and a baseball diamond was built in the middle of the pitch rendering it unsuitable for rugby. Since its split from the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in the 1930s, the Rugby Football Club kept its colours of blue and white, but adopted
351-450: The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, and the property was therefore sold to the City of Westmount to help alleviate the economic hardships. In the meantime, rugby football had begun to make its split in North America. Between 1910 and 1920, American-style football gained in popularity; so popular that games were now played in front of larger capacities, and the football club soon split from
378-539: The Sporting History of Montreal, 1850 – 1920. Vols. I-VII. City of Westmount Public Library. The Westmount Rugby Football Club was one of the founding clubs of Rugby Quebec (FRQ in French). Other founding clubs included Montreal Irish Rugby Football Club, Barbarians, Montreal Wanderers RFC and Town of Mount Royal (TMR). Every one of these clubs continues to this day, fielding teams across multiple levels of
405-625: The best club team in the second side cup competition. This has also been known as the Second Division Cup , the B Division Cup and the Des O'Neill Trophy . As leagues in Montréal and the St. Lawrence Rugger and Cricket Association were formed, the first cohort of modern clubs was founded. The union began to expand in the 1970s and 1980s, with its first wave of new clubs. Additionally, for
432-510: The club space of the Montreal Gymnasium, located at Mansfield Street and de Maisonneuve Boulevard. In 1884, the Montreal (Rugby) Football Club had upwards of 170 active members, and its first XV achieved an undefeated season, playing clubs from Royal Military College (Kingston), Ottawa, Quebec City, Toronto, British of New York, McGill University, and Bishop's University (Lennoxville, Quebec). The Montreal (Rugby) Football Club had used
459-497: The club's grounds were shared with the Montreal Lacrosse Club in the city block downtown bound by Crescent Street, Sherbrooke Street, Bishop Street, and de Maisonneuve Boulevard. Matches were held at this ground only until 1888, when the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association moved its clubhouse to the Westmount Athletic Grounds at the junction of Saint Catherine Street and Hallowell Avenue, due to urban expansion into
486-569: The downtown pitch and the subsequent dividing of the property into building lots. The Westmount property was landscaped and the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association laid down a cinder track, fences, six hundred yards of drainage, uprights, a pavilion, and a clubhouse. The pitch was, by today's standards larger than an international size rugby pitch. These grounds, aside from playing host to Montreal's rugby and lacrosse matches, also played host to Montreal's most popular sporting events such as bicycle races, athletics, ice hockey in winter, and in 1897 hosted
513-664: The end of the season the winning club of the Quebec Championship played the Ontario Champion for the Club Championship of the Dominion. This organization (also known as the Canadian Rugby Union) was the forerunner of the Canadian Football League , as rugby football in Canada evolved into Canadian football with rugby union being known as English rugby . To make matters more confusing the word rugby continued to be applied to Canadian football . It
540-556: The game of Canadian football, often with rugby football unions representing both games, thus making an exact history hard to establish. Second, the Fédération de Rugby du Québec has not put a great emphasis on maintaining detailed historical records. This has led to gaps in its administrative and competition history and the lost information may never be known. The Westmount Rugby Club traces its roots back to 1876 or 1878, and some sort of organized rugby has been played in Québec ever since. In
567-681: The longest historical record. The first is the Premier Championship Cup , which is awarded annually to the best rugby team in cup competition. This has also been known as the "Quebec Cup", Senior Cup , the First Division Cup , the A Division Cup and (formerly) the Standard Life Cup and can trace its origins back to the 1950s. The second oldest championship is the Intermediate Cup , awarded to
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#1732801376735594-610: The municipality where its home field had been located for most of its history. With the demolition of The Westmount Athletic Grounds, the club moved its grounds to the nearby Villa Maria High School, before settling at Westmount Park located in the heart of the city of Westmount. By 1976, the Quebec Rugby Union had grown to six clubs (Ormstown RFC, Montreal Irish RFC, Montreal Wanderers RFC, Montreal Barbarians RC, Town of Mount Royal RFC and Westmount RFC), and Westmount RFC had changed its colours to maroon and white. Also adopted
621-484: The new name of The Montreal Scottish RFC, owing to its strong Scottish influence within the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. For years, the Montreal Scottish RFC were the premier rugby club of Quebec, winning almost everything they could possibly arrange to compete for. By the 1950s, the Montreal Scottish RFC could not accommodate the vast number of players wishing to join the club, and they took on
648-490: The next higher division. From a published paper by: Dr. Jonathan James Albright Montreal, Canada September 1998 (Updated, March 2000). Sources: Former / Current Club Members: Mr. Marc Asselin, Mr. Adam Cutler, Mr. Peter Gelinas, and Mr. Michael Nesbitt. McGill: A Celebration. Montreal: McGill – Queen's University Press, 1991. Morrow, Donald. A Sporting Evolution: The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association 1881- 1981. Montreal: Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, 1981. Scrapbook on
675-566: 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. The Rugby Union of Canada, re-formed in 1965 and incorporated in 1974, is affiliated to World Rugby . It has competed in nine out of ten Rugby World Cups (the first in 1987 in Australia and New Zealand ) and in
702-426: Was the raven as a club symbol, owing from the municipal crest of the city of Westmount, where it figures prominently. The club became officially incorporated in 1976. The club wore maroon jerseys with white shorts until 1997, when it was decided to incorporate black into the uniform. Black shorts were introduced for 'exhibition matches' and the club began to use them regularly afterwards. The club continues to play in
729-421: Was to become the premier sporting club at the turn of the century and figure prominently in the development of rugby in Montreal, Quebec, and ultimately the Dominion of Canada. The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association came into existence June 1881 and began as a confederation of three sporting clubs: The Montreal Snow Shoe Club, The Montreal Bicycle Club, and The Montreal Lacrosse Club. These founding clubs shared
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