Community Rugby in Action - March 2025

Rugby Approved Turf Field on the Horizon with Partnership between School, Municipality, Rugby Club, Soccer Club and Firefighters

This is a story about building relationships in the community and looking for win-win outcomes that will benefit rugby in BC. It could be a model for other clubs to follow to build more rugby approved turf fields in the community, something that is much needed as February’s match cancellations reminded us.

Tom Woods is one of the driving forces behind this project and it’s a project that involves a rugby club, a soccer club, a school board, a municipality, First Nations, and the local firefighters. The project is to install a rugby approved turf field at Esquimalt High School that will benefit the school, the students (many who are Indigenous), the municipality, the local rugby club and the local soccer club. The project will cost several million and the fundraising has been going on for years.

On Thursday, February 27th, organizers presented Esquimalt High School with a cheque for $65,000 which was raised last year at Ribfest and puts the aggregate total in Trust from Ribfest with SD61 well over 1/2 Million. With community partners like Gorge Soccer and JBAA, they have amassed close to $1.5M which they hope will get the shovels in the dirt soon. As Tom mentioned, “who would have thought drinking beer and eating ribs for charity in Esquimalt would catch on eh?”

It was important for the rugby club to be involved to ensure the field would have rugby approved turf and accommodate rugby posts. It’s going to be a win for many on this, the school and students will have access during school hours, the soccer and rugby clubs in the evenings and on the weekend. The municipality will manage use of the field and revenue generated from rentals will go back into the community. The larger rugby community will benefit from having an extra rugby approved turf field in the area when a Plan B is required.

If you want to support the project, you can reach Tom by email thodeconsulting@gmail.com or by cell at 250-857-1062.