Rugby Ontario Fall Competition Update

August 26, 2021

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Rugby Ontario Fall Comepetition Update

August 26th, 2021

(WHITBY, ON) - Rugby Ontario is excited to announce the return of Fall contact competitions! This return marks the first time since October 2019 that clubs in Ontario can participate in organized contact rugby competition. 

As rugby competition returns, Rugby Ontario would like to thank and congratulate all club administrators, volunteers, coaches, match officials, players, parents, and guardians on an outstanding effort towards a safe return to play.

This article will provide an update on Senior Men’s and Senior Women’s programming for September and October. We are finalizing details around the Fall 7s tournaments for U16 and U18 boys and girls, and a series of fixtures and tournaments for the U14 boys and girls as well. In addition to formal competition returning in September and Ontario, rugby is happening all over our province. We are seeing a large number of exhibition fixtures and mini-tournaments happening each week. Rugby is very much back in Ontario!

More information on Junior formats will be released in the near future. 

Fall Men’s Programming – Marshall League 2021

After compiling the results of our 2021 Fall Competitions Survey, it was clear that there was sufficient interest among Senior Men’s Marshall League clubs to re-engage in a competition that would run within the traditional time frame of the McCormick Cup. 

Rugby Ontario and the Marshall clubs have opted to forego any sort of traditional McCormick Cup, Gee Gage Cup or Intermediate Cup for 2021, due to the impact that COVID-19 has had on the sport. Instead, our focus has been around athlete and coach engagement, and providing an avenue to bring the rugby community back together again.

Eleven of the traditional six-teen Marshall clubs have opted to participate in this Fall competition. These clubs will participate in two regional conferences for five weeks of conference competition beginning on September 11, 2021. A sixth week of competition, which is planned for October 23, 2021, will hold crossover fixtures, and will ultimately decide a winner of the 2021 Marshall Fall League. To view the full Marshall fixture list, click the link below.

2021 Fall Marshall Fixture List 

Fall Women’s Programming

In an effort to re-engage our Senior Women’s cohort, Rugby Ontario facilitated a meeting with all women’s teams who responded to our 2021 Fall Competition Survey. Our goal was to bring in all clubs with an interest in facilitating Senior women’s competition and to start a brainstorming session around what a Fall competition could look like for this age group. 

Ultimately, after some great discussion and input from club leaders from across Ontario, a collective decision was made that a traditional club on club schedule is not feasible for 2021. In place of this, a more flexible Fall competition window is being planned, with opportunities for clubs to come together to create mini tournaments, triangular fixtures, and in some cases, 15 a-side exhibition games. 

Any Senior Women’s program seeking fixtures, regardless of player numbers, are encouraged to contact Rugby Ontario’s competition staff (jschissler@rugbyontario.com & mkellington@rugbyontario.com). 

Branch Competition Outlook 

Rugby Ontario and the Branch unions have worked together to align on competition schedules for this Fall. Planning began with a survey of all Ontario Rugby clubs which was used to gauge interest for both Rugby Ontario and branch union competitions.  Competition planning is currently underway and in some cases completed at the Branch union level for Senior fixtures this fall. Please reach out to your Branch competition representative for more information on senior Branch union competitions.

ABOUT RUGBY ONTARIO

Rugby Ontario is the provincial sports governing body responsible for the organization of rugby in Ontario. Our mission is to establish a stronger identity for rugby in Ontario by promoting the sport’s core values and by fostering a culture of inclusiveness and excellence on and off the field of play.

To learn more, visit https://www.rugbyontario.com/


WANT MORE INFORMATION?

Joe Schissler

Competitions & Marketing Manager - Rugby Ontario
jschissler@rugbyontario.com


Mark Kellington

Competitions & Events Coordinator - Rugby Ontario
mkellington@rugbyontario.com


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