Future seems bright for rugby club
[attach]6263[/attach]It’s a landmark time for Balmy Beach rugby, a program that has spawned Olympians and World Cup-calibre players.
On July 28, the inaugural Lakeshore Cup will pit the club’s senior men’s program against their rival Oakville Crusaders.
“It’s been a long-standing rivalry between us and Oakville, so we decided to make a inter-team cup between the two of us,” club president Cory Appleton said.
The Cup will pit the first, second and third teams for each club against each other, with the club whose teams wins the most matches keeping the cup for the coming year.
“[The rivalry] is really a celebration of rugby and the rich tradition that rugby in Ontario has fostered,” Appleton said. “Having to face off with guys and, right after, have a beer with them is really what the game is all about.”
The next day, Balmy Beach’s under-16 team will host England’s Shelford rugby club.
“This is at least their second, if not third or fourth visit over a number of years,” said Jim Drohan, who coordinates their junior rugby program.
Bringing over clubs from overseas is a tradition for Balmy Beach. The program gets requests from other clubs from around the world to come and play.
“It’s typically tied to some history or good, strong references,” Drohan said. “We have more requests than we can accommodate.”
The overseas rugby tests are also ideal for teenage players.
“The under-16 matches up pretty good because it’s a maturing age, but it’s also an age where, at our end, the parents are still involved with the kids,” Drohan said.
Balmy Beach rugby has a lot to be proud of. Based at the foot of Beech Street and playing out of Tubs and Gee Gage Field in Ashbridges Bay, the program is one of three premier sports — lawn bowling and rowing are other two — at the Balmy Beach Club.
“It’s sort of tongue-in-cheek, a drinking club with an athletic problem,” Drohan said.
Established in 1955, the program offers rugby to 300 kids in the junior program alone, fielding many teams — including under-8 children’s flag rugby and a women’s team.
Recently, program members have been doing great things. Two members, Connor McCann and Jacob Rumball, represented Canada at the World Under-20 tournament in June.
In 2011, the club’s senior men’s team was crowned McCormick Cup champions, the ultimate achievement in Ontario rugby, after an undefeated season. The women’s team also won a division crown last year in the Toronto Rugby League.
“We have an incredible amount of depth,” said Appleton, who cited the club’s focus on sustaining talent as part of the reason for their success.
Balmy Beach rugby wants to continue striving toward greatness, exposing the teams to new experiences. They want to take teams overseas, but logistically, in Drohan’s opinion, it’s a challenge.
“We as a club don’t tour as much as we would like,” he said. “My sense is that it’s a North American thing…. How many weeks of vacation do we get?
But the Balmy Beach rugby program has been able to leverage its community to grow one of the more competitive programs in the province.
“I think [rugby is] a great community tool, to teach a lot of responsibility and self-discipline,” Appleton said.
