A Look Back at the Vancouver Island Rugby Union Centenary Program of 1976-77: Featured Cardiff v Crimson Tide, Canada v Crimson Tide, BC v England U23 and Canada v USA
The VIRU celebrated their centenary (1876-1976) in 1977 as part of the 1976-77 season. They created a program for the occasion that provides a compact historical record of the event. The event took place between May 17th and May 28th and featured four games, three played on the Island at Royal Athletic Park and one on the Mainland.
The first match was between Canada and the Crimson Tide and would serve as a warmup game for both teams, the Tide would play Cardiff six days later and Canada would face USA four days later. Canada would win the match versus the Tide 27-6, several Tide players played for Canada in that match including Hans de Goede who scored Canada’s first try. Canada would also win their match against USA, 17-6, and Hans de Goede would score a try in that match as well. The Crimson Tide upset Cardiff 29-17 which surprised many as Cardiff featured a number of Welsh internationals including 49 cap Gareth Edwards and 41 cap Gerald Davies. In the fourth match England U23 defeated BC 44-21.
The 16 page program can be downloaded here in .pdf format. We included a few key pages in .jpg format below, click on the image for a larger version. We included the cover page, the welcome by BC Premier Bill Bennett, the welcome by CRU past president Peter Clarke, and the 100 year history of rugby on Vancouver Island as written by Don Burgess.
