Panthers booted, Nomads to face Irish

In an unbelievable decision, the Kingston Panthers of the Bardon division have chosen to not play against the Irish Canadian Rugby Club in their scheduled McCormick Cup match this Saturday afternoon.  Because of this, they have been fined $500 and kicked out of the Ontario League for a period of one year. 

In the ORU rule book, rule # R906 states "A club consciously defaulting a game in any round (championship or consolation) shall be fined $500 and expelled from the McCormick Cup and its consolation rounds for the current year, and shall also be relegated from the Ontario League for the following season."

The Toronto Nomads, champions of the TRU Division A1 with a 12-2 record, have agreed to a exhibition match in order to keep both clubs sharp for their respective playoffs.  There is a long history between the two clubs, as the ICRC (with 9) and the Nomads (7) won the majority of the Ontario / Carling Cups in the 60's and 70's.   The Nomads will be competing in the Intermediate Cup playoffs this fall, which they won last season.

Other than an exhibition match played last season, the Irish and Nomads have not faced each other in a match since 1996, when both teams were fighting relegation to the last game of the year.  The Irish beat the League and eventual McCormick Cup champs Ottawa Irish then walked down to the south pitch (now stadium) to watch the Oakville Crusaders beat the Nomads, which clinched 7th place for the ICRC and relegated the Nomads to the Toronto Rugby Union league.

This match will take place at  Fletcher's Field this Saturday, October 4th with a 12:15pm kick-off as a warm up match to the Development XV's match vs. Aurora Barbarians.