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The wait is over, the deal is done. Canada has its first professional rugby union team. Following months of negotiations the Ontario Arrows were officially welcomed to Major League Rugby by league commissioner Dean Howes at a meeting in New York on Friday. An announcement from the team and league itself is expected in the coming days.
It’s the culmination of more than a year’s work for the management team led by Bill Webb and Mark Winokur. The veil was lifted on the high performance project in late August of last year, with their first and only match of 2017 against Glendale in September. They began a spring exhibition series in March 2018 and sealed a partnership with the Hurricanes in April. A formal application for the 2019 season was submitted in June, and the franchise rights secured in July. The methodical approach has paid off.
Ontario will be one of nine teams on the 2019 schedule, joining the previously-confirmed Rugby United New York as expansion franchises. It’s a landmark achievement for the startup league – the first domestic professional competition to reach the east coast and the first to reach across the border into Canada.
The 2019 schedule is expected to reveal a 16-game regular season with half to be played at home. A late January start should see both Ontario and New York begin on the road with the cold weather making home conditions difficult until March. The season is set to by concluded by mid-June.
Despite being newcomers Ontario, and New York for that matter, should be immediate contenders to reach the knock-out rounds. The Arrows will base their franchise largely around the squad and staff they have carried since their inception a year ago with many from the hugely successful Ontario Blues side in the Canadian Rugby Championship. Bill Webb and Mark Winokur head up the management team with Chris Silverthorn set to spearhead an established coaching group.
With their status now confirmed the Arrows have begun contract discussions with core players. Canadian internationals will feature prominently. Names such as Djustice Sears-Duru, Paul Ciulini, Lucas Rumball, Andrew Ferguson, and Kainoa Lloyd are set to be key members of the inaugural MLR squad.
Only a small number of imports are likely to join, among them former Saracens Academy flyhalf Kieron Martin and current Saracens Academy scrumhalf Alex Gliksten. The former already resides in Canada and currently plays for the Hamilton Hornets. Gliksten played for the Arrows in the spring before returning to the UK. He is set to be re-join the team on loan from the English Premiership club.
Canada Sevens squad members Matt Mullins, Andrew Coe, and Lucas Hammond all played against Glendale earlier this month. Cole Keith and Patrick Parfrey joined from the Rock and more of their teammates could be given Arrows opportunities in a match to be played in Atlantic Canada next month against the New England Free Jacks, last week revealed as an expansion side for 2020. That match will be confirmed later this week.
The news is particularly welcome to Rugby Canada, who have endured a series of negative events surrounding their men’s program over the past couple years. Though the national body will not be directly involved in running the franchise they have thrown their full support behind the team with MLR seen as a vital bridge between elite amateur and international rugby.
With one foot now in the door the push will come for a second Canadian franchise, eventually a third and fourth. It’s unlikely that this will happen quickly. A group led by Karl Harrison announced their intention to bring a team to Vancouver in January but that bid has fallen by the wayside with other interested parties also failing to acquire exclusive franchise rights.
There is growing interest in the east, particularly in Halifax with the introduction of a suitable venue in Wanderers Grounds and a passionate rugby community. Calgary is the home of the Prairie Wolf Pack and also a hotbed in the west. Finding investors to support such teams will be a sticking point, as will time. With Boston and Atlanta now confirmed for 2020 and the league likely to slow expansion sooner than later, a convincing bid will need to be tabled before the door closes.
In the meantime the Arrows have achieved their goal. They enter MLR not only as Ontario’s team but as Canada’s only franchise. They will have the support of a country starving for rugby success. Dark days may yet be ahead for Canadian rugby but blue, grey, and gold are set to burn brightly through the clouds when a new chapter begins just four months from now.
