Baymen Rugby Club growing rugby in Newfoundland through HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund

March 21, 2023 (Conception Bay South, Newfoundland) – In February of 2022, Rugby Canada announced the recipients of the inaugural HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund, a program that offers a wide breadth of grants aimed to benefit the sustainability and growth of rugby across Canada.

Over 100 applications were submitted to Rugby Canada in the first year of the program’s existence, and after an extensive review period, the Baymen Rugby Club from Newfoundland along with seven other clubs were selected as the inaugural recipients of the HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund.

After implementing an HSBC Rookie Rugby program in 2021, organizers from the Baymen Rugby Club noticed that approximately 80 percent of the registrations came from the north area of Conception Bay South, a pleasant surprise given that historically the club attracted players from the south area of the small Newfoundland town. However, the data helped the club identify the lack of youth registrations from their traditional catchment area in the south region of Conception Bay South as well as Paradise, a town southwest of St. John’s and approximately 13 kilometers northeast of Conception Bay South.

After being chosen as one of the recipients of the inaugural HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund, the Baymen Rugby Club used the funds provided by HSBC Bank Canada and Rugby Canada to start up a Rookie Rugby program in Paradise, a growing community with a reputation for having strong participation in their local youth sports programs. Money was put towards renting field space and to purchase the proper equipment to facilitate a rugby program for kids.

Starting in June of 2022, the Baymen Rugby Club ran three sessions every week until the end of August for kids aged 5-7, 8-11 and 12-14 in the Town of Paradise. While the Baymen typically draw players from the region through the local high school rugby programs, the club was able to register more than 50 brand new players to rugby, introducing the community and the participants’ parents to a new sport.

“All in all, I am pretty happy with how the program went in the first year,” said Coach and Program Leader, Andrew Squires. “I really hope we can build on the success we had this year and continue to grow the numbers. The kids were awesome.”

In total, the Baymen Rugby Club was able to grow their Rookie Rugby program registration to over 130 players in 2022.

“This is exactly the type of impact we wanted to see at the grassroots level when we began the HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund,” said Ryan Jones, Rugby Development Manager for Rugby Canada. “Giving kids the opportunity to play our sport is the first step in keeping them involved in rugby. We are so grateful to have a partner in HSBC Bank that shares our vision and passion for growing the game across Canada.”

The application period is now open for the 2023 HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund. Applications must be submitted by April 10th, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. EST to be considered. For more information and how to apply, CLICK HERE.