Year in Review – A Look Back at May/June 2021 Headlines: Sally Dennis Takes Over for Tim Powers as Chair of Rugby Canada Board, Men’s XVs Prepare for England/Wales Tests, MLR Reaches Week 15, Olympic 7s Teams Announced

[ed. previous articles are here: January, February, March, April]

As spring and summer rolled across the Canadian landscape there was some optimism that boots would be on the field soon. In BC that would mean outdoor non-contact rugby could begin. There were some high-performance matches involving the Pacific Pride and the Canada 7s team as they looked to remain sharp ahead of the Olympics. Jamie Cudmore was still coach of the Pride.

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Year in Review – A Look Back at April 2021 Headlines: Women’s 7s Program Turmoil Hits a Crescendo, MLR Week 6 Wraps Up, 7s Tournament in Dubai, UVic Posts Head Coach Position, Julianne Zussman Named as Olympic Match Official

With no local rugby due to COVID in April 2021 the rugby headlines were focused on MLR, the Olympics and the ongoing dispute between the women’s 7s team, head coach John Tait and Rugby Canada. That dispute was just reaching a crescendo with the women launching a powerful PR campaign on social media and through their media contacts, explaining their grievance. An independant investigator would be assigned to write a report. We have gotten hold of a copy of the report and will go into more details in the coming weeks as to its findings.

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Year in Review – A Look Back at March 2021 Headlines: Jeff Chan Becomes Canadian Rugby Foundation CEO, MLR Kicks Off Season Four, Winston Stanley Inducted Into Canadian Rugby Hall of Fame

We ran 18 stories in March 2021. One of the highlights was the appointment of Jeff Chan as CEO of the Canadian Rugby Foundation. The Foundation just announced (Dec 22nd) a donation in the amount of $11.65 million from Fletcher’s Field Limited (FFL). The Fletcher’s Fields rugby facility has been sold to the City of Markham but will continue to be used for rugby until October 2024. The member clubs have each setup a fund at the Foundation that will ultimately be used to help each club get reestablished in new facilities. The clubs are Aurora Barbarians, Markham Irish, Toronto Nomads, Toronto Saracens and Toronto Scottish.

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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.

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Year in Review – A Look Back at January 2021 Headlines: COVID, MLR Signings, Allianz Premier, Feature on Lucas Hammond

We ran 16 stories in January 2021, the full list and links are below but here are some of the highlights.

January in 2021 was very much wrapped up in the COVID issues, rugby wasn’t being played in BC but we were all hoping the situation would change to permit it. The situation didn’t change and the 2021 spring season was scrubbed.

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From the Editor’s Desk: MLR, Coastal Cup, World 7s Series and More

MLR

The MLR season starts February 5th, the schedule is here.. Seattle will host Toronto on Sunday the 6th and the following Friday, February 11th, Toronto will host the defending champion LA Giltinis at Starlight Stadium in Langford.

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Squidge Rugby Video Dissects Canada v Chile Plus Article in The Times UK on the Demise of Canadian Rugby

The aftermath of Canada’s loss to Chile and its early departure from World Cup qualifying continues to be felt.

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From the Editor’s Desk: Rugby Canada Reviews; Francois Ratier Announces his Next Rugby Chapter; and Reflecting on Dan Baugh – from Edmonton Clansmen to Pacific Pride (CCSD) to Professional Rugby in Wales

With Canada’s recent exodus from 2023 contention, it has prompted some reflection in the Canadian rugby community. Rugby Canada are doing another review, but with their history of committee and review failures, there’s not a lot of confidence this one will make a lot of difference. If you want to read up on it there’s an article in the Canadian Press. Basically “the review panel will consist of Calgary’s STRAAD Consulting, led by president and CEO Megan Luu, along with Own The Podium’s Mel Davidson and World Rugby’s Mike McGovern.” There’s some concern that the review won’t be independent and look at broader issues such as leadership, as Rugby Canada has created a committee to “support and facilitate the review” that includes CEO Allen Vansen and several board members.

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Is All Truly Equal in the Fight for Equality in Canadian Rugby? Draw Your Conclusions Carefully

Opinion by Lisa Cooper
posted August 6th 2021

In a surprise move late last year, complaints of bullying and mistreatment were alleged against the National Senior Women’s Rugby 7s (NSW7s) team head coach and high-performance director, John Tait. After an independent investigation, Tait was cleared of all wrongdoing but left with no choice but to step away from this formerly successful program. Continue reading→