UBCOB Ravens Announce Women’s Team for 2025-26 Season with Jake Thiel as Head Coach
The UBCOB Ravens announced they will be re-establishing a women’s team for the 2025-26 season with Jake Thiel as head coach. The media release is below. We also dug into the archives to look at the history of women’s rugby at Jericho with some excerpts from the research of Doug Sturrock and Dave Pearcey. The Jericho Old Girls were one of three Vancouver women’s teams in 1978 and can claim to be the first champions of the West Coast Women’s Rugby Association (WCWRA) which was started in 1981 with 1982 being the first season played. The team coaches were well known UBCOB players Doug Carr, Rick Bourne, and Garth Henrikson. It doesn’t appear the team continued into the 90s and I’m not sure if there were more recent revivals since then, we’ll update the article if we find more information.
Doug Sturrock in his book The History of Rugby in Canada wrote, “In September 1978, an article in Scrumdown, reported that the Jericho Old Girls were the most active of the three women’s teams in Vancouver and that a number of games had been played. UBC Old Boys Players Doug Carr, Rick Bourne, and Garth Henrikson were the coaches for the Old Girls… The Jericho Old Girls reported a strong showing midway through the 1982-83 season in a league that included Richmond, Simon Fraser University, Western Washington University and Seattle Breakers.”
Dave Pearcey in his book on the 35 years of the Douglas Rugby Club wrote “In 1981 the West Coast Women’s Rugby Association (WCWRA) was formed… The first season began in February of 1982 with six teams – Langley, Jericho, SFU, Richmond, Puget Sound Breakers and Western Washington University. The Jericho Old Girls were recognized as the “unofficial” champions that first year.”
It’s not clear when the Jericho Old Girls stopped playing but in a 1997 list of women’s team playing in the BC leagues, there was no mention of the team. Dave Pearcey’s book give a hint, “From 1988 to 1990, once again, no official champion was declared by the WCWRA. In fact, during this time women’s rugby had contracted severely, with all the teams previously in existence folding.”
from UBCOB Ravens
As you may have seen recently on social media, the club executive have decided to move forward with re-establishing a Women’s team for the 2025-2026 season. This decision was made in consideration of our strategic goals towards club expansion, our view on inclusivity in rugby for all players, and to energize our emerging girls program at the junior level. Our north star continues to be the best rugby community in Canada, and we believe this is a step towards that.
The Women’s program will be led by Jake Thiel, former Canada 7’s player and current Ravens player, as well as an assistant coach with the women’s national champions UBC Thunderbirds. We have full belief that Jake is the right individual to lead the team in their inaugural season, and we look forward to hopefully celebrating championships across the junior, men’s, and women’s divisions this year.
Our first step is to support Jake in recruiting players, and navigating logistical requirements. Sponsorship opportunities across all Ravens teams, as well as specifically for our junior, women, and men’s teams will be shared shortly with an announcement for our annual golf tournament.
Thank you for your continued support for our great club.
Sincerely,
Graham Turner
UBCOB Ravens Club President