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New ‘Get Into Rugby’ Pilot Project Showing Early Signs of Success in New Brunswick

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In April 2023, Rugby Canada, in collaboration with World Rugby, Rugby Ontario and Rugby New Brunswick, launched the new ‘Get Into Rugby’ project in two rugby hubs in Eastern Canada. Rugby Canada was one of eight applications selected to receive support from World Rugby out of more than 50 applications from around the world.

May 31, 2023 (Fredericton, New Brunswick) – In April of 2023, Rugby New Brunswick and four of its member clubs, the Fredericton Loyalists, Miramichi Rugby Club, Saint John Rugby Club and Moncton Rugby Club, were selected to participate in Rugby Canada’s new pilot project called ‘Get Into Rugby’.

Rugby Canada, in collaboration with World Rugby, Rugby Ontario and Rugby New Brunswick, launched the new project in two rugby hubs in Eastern Canada, New Brunswick and Eastern Ontario. Rugby Canada was one of eight organizations selected to receive support from World Rugby out of more than 50 applications from around the world.

Part of the program involved hiring 10 sessional coaches across both regions, including one for each of the four participating clubs in New Brunswick.

“The sessional coaches have offered a different way to get someone in the schools promoting rugby and bringing the passion of rugby to a young group of students who may never have heard of the sport before,” said Bailey Andrews, Rugby Development Officer for New Brunswick. “It has allowed us to be active in various communities and regions at the same time. Getting this opportunity has really helped manage all the requests we've had from schools for rugby in their gym classes this spring. It’s letting us do more with more.”

The program is designed to provide opportunities for elementary students to try rugby in their school. Participants have been introduced to rugby in their physical education classes followed by the opportunity to play in a rugby festival that brings multiple schools to the same venue to play.

“Throughout the month of May we have been able to host three school festivals, one in the Fredericton region, one in the Saint John region and another in Moncton. Each of the festivals so far have brought more than 300 kids to one place to play rugby. In Moncton, we were able to get several volunteers from the local high school women’s rugby team to come help run a bunch of the stations. It was really fun to not only see the elementary school students enjoying rugby, but the volunteers having a lot of fun as well,” Andrews expressed.

Once the school portion of the program is complete, participants will be invited to a local club for a ‘Try Rugby Day’ and offered the choice to stay in the game through regular youth programming at a local New Brunswick rugby club.

Andrews stated: “All these kids got to mix and mingle with students from other schools and it has showed each of them that rugby can happen outside of your gym class. We had support from the local clubs at each festival and had flyers and stickers to give out to link them to a club in their area. As part of the ‘Get Into Rugby’ project, each club will be hosting a bring a friend day for these festival students. This is the kind of the bridge we were hoping to build,”

An increased interest in rugby from the school-aged kids in New Brunswick has come with a larger buy-in from the schoolteachers who have played a large role in organizing and facilitating rugby in their classrooms and the school festivals.

“In the past, we would walk into a school and maybe there was one class that was interested in doing rugby. This year you walk into schools and you have three or four classes and even more teachers interested because we have more resources to help them out,” said Andrews.

“You can see that there has been a big switch from the teachers not only wanting to know what rugby is, but now the teachers are asking where can they can get more rugby, which has brought us back to some of the same schools. It is exciting to see kids remembering rugby and that the teachers are having a positive experience.”

The ‘Get Into Rugby’ program will help New Brunswick further increase their membership, which has already seen significant growth over the recent years.

“Just from a participation growth perspective, if we compare it to recent years, there has been significant growth at the under 12 age group in New Brunswick,” said Ryan Jones, Rugby Development Manager for Rugby Canada. “This year we are already seeing a 70% growth from last year's under 12 registrations. So is it safe to think we will continue to see the numbers grow in New Brunswick from not only the ‘Get Into Rugby’ project, but all the hard work being done by Bailey, the Rugby New Brunswick staff and the Fredericton Loyalists, Miramichi Rugby Club, Saint John Rugby Club and Moncton Rugby Club.”

About ‘Get Into Rugby’

Rugby Canada, in collaboration with World Rugby, Rugby Ontario and Rugby New Brunswick, has launched the new ‘Get Into Rugby’ program in two rugby hubs in Eastern Canada. Rugby Canada was one of eight applications selected to receive support from World Rugby out of more than 50 applications from around the world.

The program is designed to provide opportunities for elementary school children to try rugby in their school. Participants will be introduced to rugby within their school over a 4 to 8-week block in their physical education classes, will have the opportunity to play in a school festival and will be invited to a local club for a ‘Try Rugby Day’ and offered the choice to stay in the game through regular youth programming at the club.

In collaboration with the provincial unions, Rugby Canada has hired part-time sessional coaches in 10 rugby clubs across the two rugby hubs in Ontario and New Brunswick. The two hubs, along with the rugby clubs in these regions, were selected based on opportunities to collaborate and grow as well as identifying current and upcoming projects in each area.

Pilot Rugby Hubs/Clubs:

Eastern Ontario Rugby Union

Clubs: Barrhaven Scottish, Bytown Blues, Kingston Panthers, Lanark Highland, Ottawa Irish and Ottawa Ospreys

New Brunswick Rugby Union

Clubs: Fredericton Loyalist, Miramichi Rugby Club, Saint John Rugby Club and Moncton Rugby Club