Year in Review – A Look Back at February 2021 Headlines: The Dominoes Start to Fall
We only ran 10 stories in February 2021 but one of them would impact Canadian rugby like no other. That of course was the women’s 7s players revolt against their coach John Tait. We still don’t know all the details, what were the complaints specifically, who was the instigator, were the internal processes followed? What we do know is Rugby Canada issued a vague statement, John Tait was removed as coach and Australian Mick Byrne named as interim coach. The independent investigator later concluded there was no abuse or bullying according to existing policy. The damage was done and the dominoes would start falling.
First domino to fall after Tait would be the women’s team itself when it failed to qualify for the cup round at the Olympics and finished in 9th place. Next domino to fall would be Jamie Cudmore when he hurled social media barbs at the team after they failed to perform at the Olympics. Then the men’s XVs fell, were they affected by this drama and the loss of Cudmore, possibly. Finally to end the year, CEO Vansen fell, the person in charge while all this happened under his watch. It was a disruptive year and it all started to unfold under public scrutiny in February.
There were some positive stories from February, the MacDowell Academy partnership with the Cowichan Valley Board of Education was announced. MLR looked poised to kickoff even though COVID was rampant, Toronto however would be playing their matches in Atlanta and moved there for the season. Canadian women were going strong in the Allianz Premier league in England which would help the national XVs team later in the year. Jamie Cudmore was getting good press in February as he had a leadership role in the group, Progressive Rugby, which advocated for concussion awareness and prevention.
February 2022 can only be better than its 2021 predecessor. Hopefully the BC Premier league will have a few weekends under its belt, hopefully the men’s and women’s 7s teams will be notching some wins in the World Rugby 7s series, MLR will kickoff their 5th season, Rugby Canada will likely have an interim CEO while the search continues for Vansen’s permanent replacement. There may be some HQ staff replacements with a new CEO coming in, we’ll wait and see on the timing of that.
FEBRUARY STORIES (10)
3639 – MLR Updates – February 2021
Feb 25 2021 – Washington D.C. Franchise Relieved by News of State COVID Restrictions Easing
3638 – Rugby Updates – February 2021
Feb 23 2021 – The Latest Status Updates on High School, Club, Elite, International and MLR Rugby
3637 – Progressive Rugby Group
Feb 18 2021 – World Rugby Responds to Progressive Rugby Group’s Open Letter on Player Welfare: Jamie Cudmore Part of Leadership Group
3636 – Allianz Premier 15s – Round 12
Feb 16 2021 – Eight Canadians Help Their Teams to Wins in Weekend Action in the English Allianz Premier
3635 – Rugby Academy Updates – February 2021
Feb 12 2021 – Registration Poster for MacDowell Rugby Academy at Cowichan Secondary School
3634 – High School Rugby – February 2021
Feb 10 2021 – Webinar
3633 – Rugby Canada Updates – February 2021
Feb 07 2021 – Rugby Canada Remove John Tait as Women’s National 7s Coach as Senior Player Discontent Sparks Changes
3632 – High School Rugby – February 2021
Feb 04 2021 – Cowichan Valley Board of Education Partners with MacDowell Rugby Academy to Add Classes on Sport, Leadership & Rugby at Cowichan Secondary School
3631 – MLR Rugby – February 2021
Feb 03 2021 – Toronto Arrows to Move Base to Atlanta; MLR Issues New Schedule
3630 – Six Nations 2021
Feb 02 2021 – Six Nations Kicks Off Saturday: England Favourites to Repeat as Champions