The Axemen Rugby Club focusing on girls and Indigenous rugby programs as recipient of the HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund

April 5, 2023 (Squamish, British Columbia) – Since the club’s inception in 2014, the Axemen have focused on making rugby accessible to everyone along British Columbia’s Sea-to-Sky Corridor, which reaches from North Vancouver, all the way north to Pemberton.

Nine years ago, the Axemen senior men’s team began playing in the third division in BC with just 20 registered players. Now, the club has grown to over 55 senior men’s players and has created U9, U11, U13 and U15 age-grade programming to ensure the game of rugby continues to thrive in the region. This is an amazing accomplishment for a club that was only formed in 2014, however, members identified a lack of female and Indigenous youth amongst their junior programs.

The Axemen Rugby Club made it a priority to increase Indigenous and female participation and applied for the inaugural HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund in 2021. They were later selected as one of eight recipients after Rugby Canada received more than 100 applications.

With the funding provided, the Squamish-based club trained one coach to meet NCCP World Rugby Level 2 qualifications, upskilled current youth program coaches, purchased new rugby equipment and organized 45 separate sessions for kids in 11 different schools and youth groups in the Pemberton, Whistler and Squamish areas. Through these sessions, almost 1000 kids in the region were introduced to the game of rugby in 2022.

“During the selection process, we gave special consideration to the applications that focused on the creation or development of programs that aimed to introduce Indigenous youth or women and girls to the game of rugby,” said Ryan Jones, Rugby Development Manager for Rugby Canada. “The Axemen have taken all the right steps in creating programming that provides an opportunity for everyone in the region to participate in rugby. Introducing Indigenous youth and girls to rugby will continue to drive diversity, inclusion and equity in our sport. Projects like these will only help grow rugby across the country.”

Of the 947 students that participated in the 45 sessions, 46% were girls, which was higher than the original goal of 40% that the Axemen included in their HSBC Bank Community Rugby Fund application. Several of the sessions were completed with Squamish Nation at Totem Hall as well as at Pemberton Elementary, where 25% of the students came from Indigenous communities.

Now that the school sessions have been completed, the Axemen will integrate all the new rugby equipment that was purchased into their junior programs including rugby balls, flag belts and cones. The club plans to use the remainder of the funds to develop more NCCP World Rugby Level 1 coaches for their junior programs and enroll them in courses focused on increasing participation for Indigenous youth.

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.