Niagara Rugby Union Enters Team in

 Rugby Canada’s Super League Competition

Hamilton, Ontario – The Niagara Rugby Union today announced its participation in Canada’s elite rugby competition the Rugby Canada Super League. A highly competitive team, drawn from elite athletes in clubs in South Western Ontario will represent the union. Selection will follow fitness assessments and trial games, beginning in January 2004. The final squad from which the team will be selected will be named by the beginning of April. The “Niagara Thunder” as the team has been named, will play a minimum of 6 league games, a home and away against the Toronto Xtreme for a “Golden Horseshoe” trophy and 1 or 2 exhibition pre-season games. Decisions on colours and logo’s are yet to be finalized.

Rugby Canada Super League

The Super League is played in an Eastern and Western conference format with the winner of each conference playing each other to determine the Canadian Championship. Playing in the league is considered a must is a player is to achieve an opportunity to be considered for Canada’s National Side. An additional exciting adjunct is the inclusion of an Under 21 development team, The “Niagara Lightning”, who will be scheduled to play on the same days as the senior team.

Each conference has 7 teams representing the best rugby players in the country. Besides the Niagara Thunder, the Eastern Conference includes representative teams drawn from Toronto - Xtreme, Ottawa - Harlequins, Montreal - Menace, Nova Scotia - Keltics, New Brunswick – Black Spruce and Newfoundland – The Rock. The Western conference, is represented by teams from Vancouver Island – The Crimson Tide, Vancouver City - Vancouver Wave, Frazer Valley – Valley Venom, Edmonton – Edmonton Gold, Calgary - Mavericks, Saskatchewan – Prairie Fire and Manitoba - Buffalo. In 2003 the Mavericks edged out the Xtreme in an exciting final to an outstanding season.

The Niagara Thunder

The Niagara Thunder will have the benefit of being able to draw elite players from the 1st and 2nd place teams in the Marshall Division of the Ontario Rugby Union, the Oakville Crusaders and the Brantford Harlequins, 4 teams in the Keenan division, Ontario’s second division, as well as several other teams in the Niagara Premier league. “We expect to be highly competitive in our conference and have an excellent opportunity to make the final against the western champion,” said Gary Whitley the team’s head coach. Other members of the coaching staff are Jeff Prince – Brantford Harlequins, Tony Godziek – Burlington Centaurs and Jim Flynn – Fergus Highlanders.

The league schedule has not yet been released, but it is anticipated that 4 league games and additionally one or two exhibition games will be played on home turf. An exhibition game against a visiting side, Coventry – England, who is a division 1 professional team, is already scheduled for May 4th in Hamilton. Other home games will be played at different venues in the area to enhance the possibility for local schools and non-rugby enthusiasts to attend the games.

Organisation

As always rugby in Canada is a purely amateur game and the team administration is busy seeking sponsors, donations and developing fund raising programs to offset the significant cost of running such an organisation. Various programs are in place, many of which have been designed to benefit not only the Thunder, but also the member clubs of the Niagara Union. Season tickets for all home games will be available through local clubs at a modest $10 per person.

History

After 5 years of non-participation, the Niagara Rugby Union is now committed to enter a team to compete in the elite Rugby Canada Super League competition in the 2004 season. The earlier resistance to joining was proven to be a wise move. “The difficulties in launching such a huge program run primarily by amateur rugby enthusiasts presented many challenges in organization and cost. The experience gained by other super league teams over the last 5 years will be of significant benefit to our new team” said Dave Burnett – President. “The Thunder’s program will embrace all clubs in the area and we anticipate a high level of support and enthusiasm from them which will help us be successful. I believe we can all look forward to some excellent rugby in the Niagara region in 2004”

[<<back] [top]