Rugby Canada Super League

The Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL or Super League) was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada. In terms of seniority it rested immediately beneath the IRB sponsored North America 4, a former US/Canadian cross-border competition in which two Canadian teams (Canada East and Canada West) took part. Most players took part in RCSL ("Super League") on an amateur basis.

Rugby Canada Super League
SportRugby union
Founded1998
Inaugural season1998
Ceased2009
No. of teams11
Country Canada
Last
champion(s)
Newfoundland Rock (3rd title)
Most titlesVancouver Island Crimson Tide (4 titles)

In early 2009, after 11 seasons of play, Rugby Canada decided to disband the RCSL in the wake of the establishment of the Americas Rugby Championship, the successor to the North America 4. The RCSL was replaced by the Canadian Rugby Championship and the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship, which absorbed the majority of the RCSL teams.

Overview

The competition was established in 1998 and had been played on an annual basis. It is considered to be Canada's premier wholly domestic rugby competition. Players on Canada's senior men's team were often chosen from Super League clubs.

The Super League drew its teams from provincial unions. Larger unions (BC, Alberta, and Ontario) had more than one representative team; those teams were drawn largely from provincial sub-unions. For example, the Calgary Rugby Union and Edmonton Rugby Union are sub-unions of the larger Alberta Rugby Union and had both been given representation in the Super League.

Teams were divided into Eastern and Western Divisions and played each of the other teams in their division once. The top team in each division played each other for the national championship.

The league rarely had identical membership from season to season, with teams who have membership occasionally electing not to play due to financial, logistical or level-of-play concerns. For 2006 season, the Fraser Valley Rugby Union of B.C. ("The Venom") and the Manitoba Rugby Union ("The Buffalo") elected not to participate, which created an unbalanced situation where the Western Division had five teams (therefore only four games in their season), while the Eastern Division had seven (six games).

Teams

Western Conference

Team City / area Seasons
Calgary Mavericks Calgary, Alberta 1998–2008
Edmonton Gold Edmonton, Alberta 1998–2008
Fraser Valley Venom Fraser Valley, British Columbia 1998–2004
Manitoba Buffalo Winnipeg, Manitoba 1998–2001, 2003–2005
Saskatchewan Prairie Fire Regina, Saskatchewan 1998–2008
Vancouver Island Crimson Tide Victoria, British Columbia 1998–2008
Vancouver Island Raiders Vancouver Island 2005
Vancouver Wave Vancouver, British Columbia 1998–1999, 2002–2008

Eastern Conference

Team City / area Seasons
New Brunswick Black Spruce Fredericton, New Brunswick 1998–2008
Newfoundland Rock St. John's, Newfoundland 1998–2008
Niagara Thunder Burlington, Ontario 2004–2008
Nova Scotia Keltics Halifax, Nova Scotia 1998–2008
Ottawa Harlequins Ottawa, Ontario 1999–2000, 2002–2008
Quebec Caribou Montreal, Quebec 1998–2000, 2002, 2004–2008
Toronto Xtreme Toronto, Ontario 1999–2007

Champions

Year Champion Score Runner-up
1998 Vancouver Island Crimson Tide Nova Scotia Keiths
1999 Vancouver Island Crimson Tide (2) 23–11 Toronto Renegades
2000 Fraser Valley Venom 15–9 Nova Scotia Keltics
2001 Fraser Valley Venom (2) 20–14 Toronto Renegades
2002 Vancouver Island Crimson Tide (3) 6–3 Newfoundland Rock
2003 Calgary Mavericks 40–24 Toronto Xtreme
2004 Vancouver Island Crimson Tide (4) 14–8 Newfoundland Rock
2005 Newfoundland Rock 26–13 Saskatchewan Prairie Fire
2006 Newfoundland Rock (2) 28–14 Saskatchewan Prairie Fire
2007 Saskatchewan Prairie Fire 28–12 Niagara Thunder
2008 Newfoundland Rock (3) 30–6 Calgary Mavericks

See also

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