History
Prior to 2009, senior men's rugby east of Ontario had three levels: Canada East, a single team that was a competitor in the IRB's NA4 North American rugby competition, the four RCSL teams in the area (Quebec Caribou, New Brunswick Black Spruce, Nova Scotia Keltics and the Newfoundland Rock) and local club rugby.
In 2009, Rugby Canada and the IRB decided to expand the NA4 competition to become the Americas Rugby Championship. In this new competition, there would be four Canadian teams (B.C., the Prairies, Ontario and one to represent all of Canada's five easternmost provinces. Additionally, the RCSL was disbanded, to be replaced with a new Under-20 league called the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship. Effectively, this new senior competition (the ARC) replaced both of the top two (NA4, RCSL) tiers of senior men's Canadian rugby.
In 2010, the Rugby Canada changed the format of the Canadian competition of the ARC, introducing the CRC. The 4 Canadian teams which competed in the ARC stayed the same, but now played in the CRC, with a Canadian Selects team being chosen from CRC players, and that selects team going on to represent Canada at the ARC.
Though St. John's is actually the 5th largest urban area in the region (after Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax and Gatineau), it had a strong rugby community at the time the league was created. Specifically, it had a strong recent tradition of success in national competitions, with the Newfoundland Rock having won the RCSL's Eastern Division (which included Ontario teams) five of the seven years immediately preceding the creation of the ARC. Therefore, Rugby Canada decided to support the placement of the "Eastern / Atlantic Canadian" team in St. John's.
Demonstrating the strength of the predecessor organization (and possibly as a result of the team's placement in St. John's), a majority of the team's initial squad had played for the Newfoundland Rock in previous years.
2009 season
The team's 2009 schedule included two away games (in Calgary against the Prairie Wolf Pack, and Toronto against the Ontario Blues), as well as one game at home in St. John's (against the BC Bears). If the team had been able to finish in one of the top two positions (of four), it would have won a place in the "Canada Semi-Final" of the ARC. The winner of that match played against the winner of USA Select XV vs. Argentina Jaguars for the inaugural championship.
The Rock played their first match on 4 September 2009, defeating the Prairie Wolf Pack 31-23 in Calgary. The Rock scored 5 tries, giving them a bonus point in the standings for having scored four or more. However, the season did not continue as successfully, with a close 9-8 loss at home in Newfoundland against the BC Bears, and a thorough 32-5 defeat against the Ontario Blues in Ontario. Thus, the Rock finished third in the ARC's Canadian Division, and did not advance to the playoff matches.
The Rugby Canada Super League was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada. In terms of seniority it rested immediately beneath the IRB sponsored North America 4, a former US/Canadian cross-border competition in which two Canadian teams took part. Most players took part in RCSL on an amateur basis.
The Don Johnson Memorial Cup, formerly Don Johnson Cup, is the Junior B ice hockey championship for Atlantic Canada, including Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island as of 2014.
The 2006 Rugby Canada Super League season was the ninth season for the RCSL.
Rugby union is a moderately popular sport in Canada; it is quite strong as a participation sport, particularly in several hotspots like British Columbia, Atlantic Canada, the West Island of Montreal, Quebec City and Ontario but does not attract the same level of spectator support yet, likely because the CFL's popular brand of Canadian Football is still similar to rugby in many ways, whilst also being the dominant football code in the country. Rugby Canada is the administrative body for rugby union in Canada. Every province also has its own union.
The Newfoundland Rock are a Canadian rugby union team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team plays in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship (RCNJC) and draws most of its players from the Newfoundland Rugby Union, one of fourteen Rugby Unions that have representative teams in the RCNJC.
The Prairie Fire was a Canadian rugby union team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The team played in the Rugby Canada Super League and the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship, which followed once the former was disbanded. The Fire drew most of their players from the Saskatchewan Rugby Union, one of fourteen Rugby Unions that had representative teams in the RCSL.
The MacTier Cup is the name of the championship for the top senior men's rugby league in Canada.
The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship was an amateur rugby union competition in Canada. It only lasted two seasons, 2009 and 2010. The 2009 champion was the Vancouver Wave, and the 2010 championship went to the Newfoundland Rock.
The Americas Rugby Championship, often informally called the Americas' Six Nations, was an annual international rugby tournament between six North and South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States and Uruguay. Originally competed by various interlocking combinations of club, second-tier national and top national sides, the current international tournament has the top national sides competing. The current format provides these top national teams with additional test matches to be counted in the World Rugby Rankings.
The 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. In their inaugural season, the Blues suffered narrow losses against British Columbia and the Wolf Pack before defeating the Rock to advance to the Canadian Final. The Blues would again lose to BC, but defeated the U.S. Selects in the bronze medal match.
The 2011 Tim Hortons Brier, the Canadian men's national curling championship, was held March 5 until March 13, 2011 at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario. This event marked the 30th time that the province of Ontario has hosted the Brier since it began in 1927 in Toronto, Ontario and the first time a Bronze Medal Game was added to the playoffs.
The J. Pius Callaghan Cup is a trophy that was formerly given to the ice hockey Junior A Champion of Atlantic Canada from 1981 until 1991. The trophy is named for Joseph Pius Callaghan, sports writer for the Charlottetown Guardian, school teacher, and sports executive, by Hockey PEI. From 1991 until 2006, the trophy was awarded to the playoff champion of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. In 2006 it was retired and now resides in the Charlottetown Civic Centre. Prior to 1981, the championship was just called the Atlantic Junior A Championship.
The Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC) was a Canadian amateur rugby union competition, partially funded by the World Rugby. It was the highest level of men's domestic rugby in Canada. Four representative teams from regions across Canada competed for the MacTier Cup. The CRC was started in 2009 by Rugby Canada and was held annually from August to September. Rugby Canada also held CRC tournaments for under-19 men, under-20 women, and senior women.
The 2009 Canadian Rugby Championship was the inaugural season of the CRC, Canada's highest level of domestic rugby competition. The BC Bears won the MacTier Cup going undefeated, while the Ontario Blues finished as runners-up, allowing them both to advance to the Americas Rugby Championship.
The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier was held from February 28 to March 8 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The 2016 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 5–13, 2016 at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario.
The 2017 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from March 4–12, 2017 at the Mile One Centre in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The 2019 Canada Winter Games, officially known as the XXVII Canada Games, is a Canadian multi-sport event that was held in Red Deer, Alberta, from February 15, 2019, to March 3, 2019. These were the third Canada Winter Games held in the province of Alberta, after the 1975 Canada Winter Games in Lethbridge and the 1995 Canada Winter Games in Grande Prairie.
The quadrennial Canada Winter Games competition has an ice hockey tournament. The participants are the provincial and territorial ice hockey associations.
The 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, Canada's national men's curling championship, was held from February 29 to March 8 at the Leon's Centre in Kingston, Ontario. The winning Brad Gushue rink was scheduled to represent Canada at the 2020 World Men's Curling Championship at the Commonwealth Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
