| Rugby league in Canada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Canada |
| Governing body | Canada Rugby League |
| National team(s) | |
| First played | 1928 |
National competitions | |
Rugby league football (French : Rugby à XIII) is a participation and spectator sport in Canada.
| Rugby league in Canada | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Country | Canada |
| Governing body | Canada Rugby League |
| National team(s) | |
| First played | 1928 |
National competitions | |
Rugby league football (French : Rugby à XIII) is a participation and spectator sport in Canada.
Games related to rugby football have been played in Canada since the 19th century, with the first Rugby Union being established in 1861. However, the rugby league made little headway in the country, where rugby union and later Canadian football were the dominant field sports. In 1928 the Great Britain Lions, Britain's national rugby league team, visited Canada on their way home from a tour of Australia and New Zealand. According to the Imperial Rugby League Board, a domestic competition using rugby league rules was held in Canada the following year. [1]
From the late 19th century Canadian unions adopted rule changes, generally similar to changes made in the United States, which created the sport known as Canadian football. Through the 20th century football gained in popularity, displacing other codes. With support declining, the Nova Scotia Rugby Union, which governed the sport in Nova Scotia and the Maritimes, decided to adopt the rugby league code in hopes of saving rugby from the incursion of Canadian football. The switch was first discussed in 1945, but the lack of a rule book precluded any action. The switch was finally agreed upon in 1946, and the switch was made the following season. [2]
With the exception of Halifax schools, which had adopted football, all competitions in the Maritimes, – the senior level, Maritime, high school, and university competitions – made the switch to rugby league. Unlike most rugby league competitions, the NSRU continued to be recognized by the Canadian Rugby Football Union, and all players remained amateur. Though attendance and participation increased in the first year, it did not last, and football continued to increase in popularity throughout the Maritimes. The universities all switched to football by 1955, and the senior league shrank to just four teams. Rugby league continued to be played in many Nova Scotia high schools until 1959, and was still played elsewhere in the Maritimes into the 1960s, but disappeared thereafter. [2]
In the 1980s interest in amateur rugby league returned, and in 1986 a new competition, the Tri-Counties Rugby League, was established. Four teams competed in its first year, three from Canada, and one from the U.S., the New York-based Adirondacks club. [3] Later, the Canada national rugby league team was formed, and participated semi-regularly in international competition from 1987–2000. The team competed in the 2000 Emerging Nations Tournament, but afterward went dormant as the governing body folded. Thereafter Canada's rugby league participation dwindled, though there were two regional rugby league nines tournaments as recently as 2003, one in Ontario and one in Manitoba. [3]
In 2010, a new organization, Canada Rugby League, was formed with the intention of reviving the national team and building a new domestic competition. Under the CRL the national team played international games several times in 2010, including the American National Rugby League's annual "War at the Shore" event, hosting the Colonial Cup, and competing in the Rugby League Atlantic Cup in Jacksonville, Florida. [4] [5] Two domestic teams, the Toronto City Saints and the St. Catharines Bobcats, were established, and are set to be joined by two new teams in 2011. Super League teams St Helens R.F.C. and Salford City Reds have also formed partnerships with Canadian rugby league, [6] [7] and Rugby League Review, one of the leading rugby league magazines around the world came on board as a sponsor of Canadian rugby league. [8] Setanta Sports will broadcast rugby league matches in Canada. [9] Canada won its first international match of the revival era on July 31, 2011 defeating Jamaica 40-10 in Markham, Ontario.
In 2016, the 2025 Rugby League World Cup was jointly awarded to Canada and the United States, however both later withdrew.
In 2017, Toronto Wolfpack was formed as an expansion club of the British rugby league system, and competed for four seasons until the COVID-19 pandemic, entering the league system in League 1 and seeing two promotions in three years to finish in the Super League. [10] [11]
Post-covid, the Wolfpack formed their own competition within North America after the failed North American Rugby League.
There are currently three (known) provisional competitions in Canada, the Ontario Rugby League Competition, the British Columbia Rugby League Competition, and the Alberta Rugby League Competition, all are amateur.
Canada attempted to launch the professional North American Rugby League along with the USA in 2021, however this never materialised. In 2023, Toronto Wolfpack, Canada's only professional club (who previously had completed in the British rugby league system) organised the Canada Cup, an international league for all of North America. [12]
Truro is a town in central Nova Scotia, Canada. Truro is the shire town of Colchester County and is located on the south side of the Salmon River floodplain, close to the river's mouth at the eastern end of Cobequid Bay.
Amherst is a town in northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, located at the northeast end of the Cumberland Basin, an arm of the Bay of Fundy, and 22 km (14 mi) south of the Northumberland Strait. The town sits on a height of land at the eastern boundary of the Isthmus of Chignecto and Tantramar Marshes, 3 km (1.9 mi) east of the interprovincial border with New Brunswick and 65 km (40 mi) southeast of the city of Moncton. It is 60 km (37 mi) southwest of the New Brunswick abutment of the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island at Cape Jourimain.
The Queen's Gaels is the athletics program representing Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The main athletics facilities include Richardson Memorial Stadium, the Queen's Athletics and Recreation Centre, Nixon Field and Tindall Field. The team colours are gold, blue, and red.
The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams from a wide array of countries.
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.
Football Canada is the governing body for gridiron football in Canada headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Football Canada focuses primarily its own Canadian form of the sport, and is currently the world's only national governing body for Canadian football.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Other major professional games include curling, basketball, baseball, soccer, and football. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by numerous "Halls of Fame" and museums, such as Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
The Canada national rugby league team represents Canada in international rugby league football tournaments.
The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt the Burnside rules, from which the modern Canadian football code would evolve.
Australian rules football in Canada is played in seven provinces – Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The Ontario league, centred on Toronto is a nine-team league, including sides from cities as far afield as Guelph, Hamilton and Ottawa. In western Canada, there are clubs in Edmonton, Calgary and a six-team league in the Vancouver area. There is also a number of junior and women's clubs across Canada.
Allan A. Lamport Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium on King Street West in the Liberty Village neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the practice facility for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. It is also partial home for Canada national rugby league team. The playing surface of the 9,600 seating capacity stadium is also dually marked for soccer and field hockey. The stadium was named for long-time Toronto politician Allan Lamport, who was associated with sporting activities in the city.
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.
Amateur sport in Toronto has a vibrant and distinguished history, with a breadth of sports featuring significant participation in youth leagues, collegiate sports, and other organised and ad hoc events.
Fox Soccer Plus is an American sports channel dedicated to soccer and rugby league football. Launched in 2005 by the Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports to offer live and tape-delayed mainstream sports events in the United States and Caribbean, it was rebranded on March 1, 2010, as a spin-off of the now-defunct Fox Soccer after its owner News Corporation acquired the channel and its coverage rights from Setanta in January 2010.
Canada Rugby League (CRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in Canada. Founded in 2010, the CRL organizes the Canada national rugby league team and supports the development of the game through the country's domestic competitions.
The Montreal Football Club was a Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec that played in the Quebec Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1915. The club was a founding member of the QRFU and played in the first football game in Quebec in 1872. The club was dominant in Quebec, winning 12 of the 24 QRFU titles in the years that they played in that league. Montreal also won the first Canadian Dominion Football Championship in 1884, a predecessor of the Grey Cup and again won the championship in their first season in the IRFU in 1907.
Rugby League British Columbia, formerly known as British Columbia Rugby League, is a non-profit organization and a member of Canada Rugby League. RLBC operates a domestic rugby league football competition in British Columbia, Canada that currently features six teams with the addition of the Whistler Wolves for the 2020 season. The RLBC, with its clubs, additionally host events and competitions involving junior club teams and women's team to expand the sport of Rugby League in the province.
Toronto Wolfpack RLFC is a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club is the first and only professional rugby league club in North America, and as of 2023 competes in the self sponsored Canada Cup, an invitational league for North American teams organised by Toronto Wolfpack.
The Cleveland Rugby League are an American amateur rugby league football club based in Cleveland, Ohio. They were a founding member of the new North American Rugby League that formed in 2021, but failed to launch. Currently the club runs as a USARL independent.
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