A month after announcing a shared deal with the MLR Toronto Arrows to bring Welsh coach Rob Howley to Canada, Rugby Canada have struck another deal with the MLR LA Giltinis. This time it’s to bring on board Marc Carter as Performance Analyst.
from CBC – Rugby Canada cuts staff, citing ongoing financial impact of COVID-19
15 of organization’s 46 staff affected, including 5 terminations, effective Oct. 1
Rugby Canada in partnership with Toronto Arrows have hired Rob Howley as assistant coach to fellow Welshman Kingsley Jones. It’s a decision sure to raise a few eyebrows. Rob Howley was the assistant coach of Wales before he was caught up in a gambling scandal and removed from the position prior to the 2019 World Cup and given an 18 month suspension from rugby, it was dated back to September 16th 2019 when he was removed from the Wales coaching staff. The sentence was reduced by 9 months so in effect it was a 9 month suspension allowing him to work in rugby again as of June 16th 2020. The charge against him was breaching the anti-corruption and betting regulations set in place by World Rugby. He was betting on games, including games with Wales, while he was in a position of influence as assistant coach. The following from Wales Online summarizes the situation.
from Rugby Canada
Rugby Canada is pleased to confirm coaching appointments for two former Canadian international players, Dr. Maria Gallo and Phil Mack.
As usual there’s good news and bad news. The good news is Rugby Canada shaved over a million off “Staff Salaries, Commissions and Benefits”. They went from $2.4M in 2018 to $1.2M in 2019. They also cut “National Office and General Administration” in half from $1M to $500K.
[ed. updated the Rugby Canada Report appended below]
Rugby Canada issued an update on their status after they completed their 2019 AGM (virtually) this past weekend, the financials should be out by Wednesday. That report is posted below. Also we’ll add a few background notes in a paragraph below.
from Rugby Canada
As Rugby Canada and all Provincial Member Unions continue to move towards a return to play, the working group provided further updates on the process:
One of the interesting studies during the pandemic is how each sport is handling the Return to Play at the national and provincial level.
Rugby Canada quickly went into the committee phase and are now at the survey phase with a decision promised for the end of the month. The national suspension of activity remains in effect. Their latest announcement is appended below.
Rugby Canada released their 2018 financials this week, the 2019 financials will be released later this summer. Even though late Rugby Canada have been able to keep their head above water unlike USA Rugby who had to file for bankruptcy protection.