Ontario - Senior clubs exploring restructuring top divisions

Citing a feeling that club rugby is "falling through the cracks" two members of Ontario A division rugby clubs are floating the concept of a new look Ontario rugby league that will fall along geographic lines to allow for an expanded schedule and reduced costs.

In a leaked memo sent to Canada.RugbyRugby.com, Bruce Gage of the Balmy Beach and Vic Jutronich of the first place Oakville Crusaders states that "senior club rugby is facing a major crisis in Ontario".

The current structure of the Ontario A and B divisions include teams from south western, central and eastern Ontario. When teams from the extreme ends of the league play each other, drives as long as 7 to 8 hours are routine. The suggestion in the re-alignment plan would be to have three new divisions comprised of the following:

Southern Ontario - Would consist of ten teams:

Balmy Beach, Ajax Wanderers, Oakville Crusaders, Toronto Irish Canadians, Yeomen, Barrie, Burlington, Markham, Brantford and London

Ottawa and Montreal - Would consist of even number of teams from each area.

No suggested team list for these two divisions were posed, but could include the Ottawa Irish, Ottawa Scottish, Indians, Bytown Blues from Eastern Ontario. Quebec teams could include the Montreal Irish, St. Anne de Bellvue, Montreal Wanderers, and Montreal Barbarians to name a few.

The document goes on to reveal that after two rounds had been played in the regular season four teams from southern Ontario, and two each from eastern Ontario and Quebec would meet in an 8 team play off. The teams would play on a home and away basis over two seasons, so that long road trips would be cut in half in some years for some teams.

The other aspect of the plan touches on the fact that long summer layoffs, and long weekend interruptions serve to limit the amount of top class rugby being played in Ontario. Currently, not including McCormick cup playdowns, teams in the Ontario A play 14 games over a period of approximately 25 weeks.

To provide a contrast the British Columbia Rugby Union plays an interlocking schedule with 11 teams providing a twenty game regular season plus play-offs. In order to achieve an increased number of games the summer break would have to be reduced and games played on some long weekends.

An alternative suggestion would see a 12 team southern Ontario league and six teams each from Ottawa and Montreal. On completion of the regular season a four team knockout in the southern league would result in the top two teams going on to play the Montreal and Ottawa champions and then on to the finals from there.

All of these are compelling ideas and would provide a meaningful competition that serves both geographic and financial needs of clubs who cannot afford to travel as much as they do now. It would also eliminate a large advantage home teams hold on sides travelling more than three hours to their kick off.

The next step will involve a league wide discussion at an ORU planning meeting November 5th, followed by ratification at the ORU annual general meeting in December.

By Doug Crosse - RugbyRugby.com


To participate in an online discussion about Ontario League Restructuring visit the rugbyrugby.com message board and see what the word on the pitch is.