CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - It doesn’t look like a sophomore slump is pending for the Charlottetown Rugby Football Club.
In fact, the CRFC is expanding.
This summer, the club is adding a second senior women’s team to its program which outran and out-tackled the competition en route to a Nova Scotia Rugby League Tier A title last year in its first season.
The new squad will play in the Tier B circuit, mimicking what the P.E.I. Mudmen do with teams in the first and second divisions of the N.S. senior men’s league.
Abby Goodwin, CRFC co-founder and president, said the new addition is a reaction to the current appeal of women’s rugby.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from university and varsity players and provincial team members who want to play all summer. Players are coming back to competitive rugby after playing high school and university,” Goodwin said. “The team is (also part) of a developmental program and for players looking to play recreationally.”
That inclusiveness is what drives the club. Goodwin, who played with a Canadian university all-star team in a two-game friendly with an American university all-star squad in 2011, said the CRFC was founded as much for rugby as a meeting place for the players and those who want to join the rugging world.
“I just love the community and what it has done for us on and off the field. For younger girls, rugby builds confidence on and off the field. It’s more that just a sport,” she said.
And so far it’s working as 50 players are confirmed for the club this season with eight more on the fence. That’s more than enough to field two squads on Saturdays this summer provided commitments hold.
“If that stands up, we should be OK,” Goodwin said.
The CRFC and the Mudmen run under-12 rookie rugby programs through the P.E.I. Rugby Union as a way to bring boys and girls into the sport. And this year, those programs are expanding to Stratford and Montague, are being revived in Summerside and will continue in Charlottetown.
The CRFC team begin practices in May, going Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6-7:30 p.m., at Charlottetown Rural High School. No regular season schedule is available yet from Nova Scotia Rugby, but league games usually start in June.
There’s also a revival of the senior provincial men’s and women’s teams for the Atlantic championships in Montague. Also, CRFC players Alysha Corrigan and Holly Jones will attend Rugby Canada national team tryouts May 16-20 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Both are former standouts on the UPEI Panthers women’s rugby team.
All in all, it looks like heady times for Island ruggers.
“I’m thrilled, absolutely delighted to push women’s rugby on P.E.I.,” Goodwin said.
Sumara Profit, a former Atlantic University Sport all-star with UPEI, is joining the CRFC coaching squad alongside James Voye and Craig Inward this summer. The Charlottetown native recently moved back to P.E.I. with her wife from Moncton, N.B.
In The Circuit
Teams in the Nova Scotia Senior Women’s Rugby League.
Tier A - Halifax RFC, Charlottetown Rugby Football Club, Enfield RFC, Halifax Tars, Pictou County, Valley Bulldogs, Truro Saints.
Tier B - Dartmouth PigDogs, Charlottetown Rugby Football Club, Riverlake RFC, Pictou County, Halifax Tars, Windsor Hants County Machine, Truro Saints.
