Full name | Black Spruce Rugby | |
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Union | Rugby Canada New Brunswick Rugby Union | |
Nickname(s) | Spruce | |
Location | Fredericton, New Brunswick | |
Ground(s) | Loyalists RFC | |
Chairman | Sherry Doiron | |
Coach(es) | Malcolm MacAfee /Keith McAlpine | |
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Official website | ||
blackspruce |
Black Spruce Rugby are a Canadian rugby union team based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The team plays in the Rugby Canada Super League and draws most of its players from the New Brunswick Rugby Union.
The Spruce play their home games at Loyalists RFC in Fredericton.
In 1998, Rugby Canada and the provincial unions agreed to form the Rugby Canada Super League. Fourteen unions and sub-unions were invited to compete in the new semi-professional league. 9 teams played in the inaugural RCSL season - Black Spruce Rugby was one of the 9 original teams others were The Rock, NS Keiths, Montreal Olympics, Manitoba Buffalo, The Prairie Fire, Calgary Maverics, Edmonton Gold and the Crimson Tide.
Fredericton is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, also known by its Indigenous name of Wolastoq, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the dominant natural feature of the area. One of the main urban centres in New Brunswick, the city had a population of 63,116 and a metropolitan population of 108,610 in the 2021 Canadian Census. It is the third-largest city in the province after Moncton and Saint John.
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes rugby, football, footy or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 m (74 yd) wide and 112–122 m (122–133 yd) long with H shaped posts at both ends. It is one of the two codes of rugby football, the other being rugby union. It originated in 1895 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England as the result of a split from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) over the issue of payments to players. The rules of the game governed by the new Northern Rugby Football Union progressively changed from those of the RFU with the specific aim of producing a faster and more entertaining game to appeal to spectators, on whose income the new organisation and its members depended. Due to its high-velocity contact, cardio-based endurance and minimal use of body protection, rugby league is widely regarded as the toughest and most brutal collision sport in the world.
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.
Sir John James Patrick Kirwan is a New Zealand mental health advocate, former rugby union and rugby league player, and former rugby union coach.
The UNB Reds are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.
St. Thomas Tommies is the nickname of the athletics teams at St. Thomas University (Canada) (STU) in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The name “Tommies” derives from the Edwardian term for a British private or “Tommy”. These soldiers would be called upon across no-mans-land, if German soldiers wished to speak to a British soldier. “Tommies” were known for their bravery and courage while travelling through the most dangerous grounds of the war. STU basically shares the campus with the University of New Brunswick and hence some of the facilities. The women's hockey teams is a member of the Atlantic University Sport. The basketball, soccer, volleyball, cross country and women's rugby teams are members of the Atlantic Colleges Athletic Association, while men's rugby compete in the Maritime University Rugby league.
The Canada national rugby union team represents Canada in men's international rugby union competitions and is governed by Rugby Canada. Canada is classified by World Rugby as a tier two rugby nation and has competed in competitions such as the Americas Rugby Championship and the Rugby World Cup. Canada traditionally plays in red and white.
Rugby league is played across England but is most popular in Northern England, especially Yorkshire and Lancashire where the game originated. These areas are the heartland of rugby league. The sport is also popular in Cumbria where the amateur game is particularly powerful.
The Fredericton Express were a professional ice hockey team based in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. They played in the American Hockey League between 1981 and 1988. The Express were affiliated with the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. Home games were played at the Aitken Centre on the University of New Brunswick campus.
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 Fraser Valley Venom are a Canadian rugby union team based in the Fraser Valley, British Columbia. The team plays in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship and draws most of its players from the Fraser Valley Rugby Union, one of 13 Rugby Unions that have representative teams in the RCNJC. The Venom previously played in the Rugby Canada Super League until the national governing body, Rugby Canada, decided to disband the league after the 2008 season in favour of the Americas Rugby Championship. Rugby Canada established the RCNJC as a new under-20 national competition, with virtually all the RCSL unions choosing to field teams in that league.
The Maritime Women's Football League (MWFL) is a Canadian football league in eastern Canada. It was Canada's first all-female full-contact football competition when it began operating in 2004.
Atlantic Rock, also known as The Rock, are a Canadian rugby union team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team plays in the Canadian Rugby Championship (CRC) and is intended to draw most of its players from the rugby unions of Canada's five Eastern provinces: Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (PEI) and Newfoundland & Labrador.
The New Brunswick Junior Hockey League (NBJHL) was a Canadian Junior ice hockey league in the province of New Brunswick. The NBJHL was in competition for the Callaghan Cup and Centennial Cup as a Junior A league.
Jebb Sinclair is a Canadian rugby union player who played most recently for London Irish. Released from his contract over the summer of 2017, he is now coaching in Canada.
Vincent Churchill "Manny" McIntyre was a Canadian professional athlete who played both ice hockey and baseball. He is an inductee of the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
The St. Stephen Aces were a Canadian junior ice hockey franchise from St. Stephen, New Brunswick. The team was a member of the Maritime Junior Hockey League and played in the Eastlink North Division. They played their home games in the Garcelon Civic Centre in St. Stephen, New Brunswick.
Shannon Michael Frizell is a Tongan born New Zealand rugby union player. His position of choice is flanker.
The Fredericton Junior Red Wings are a Canadian junior ice hockey franchise from Fredericton, New Brunswick. The team is a member of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League and plays in the EastLink North Division. They play their home games at the Grant-Harvey Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
The UNB Saint John Seawolves are the men's and women's athletic teams that represent University of New Brunswick from the Saint John campus in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. The Seawolves field six varsity teams with three men's teams and three women's teams that compete in the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association. UNB Saint John student-athletes also compete in cross country and track and field along with UNB Fredericton students on the UNB Reds teams. The university also features club sports that are organized by students and that compete against other university and college club teams.