Mayor Stew Young has shot back at an independent review of Rugby Canada in which Langford, home of the rugby national training centre, was described as “isolated” and “expensive.”
“I was shocked and disappointed in those comments,” said Young.
The review questioned having Vancouver Island as a base for Rugby Canada operations and athletes: “Langford is not viewed as a positive place to live with it being framed as ‘expensive’ and ‘isolated,’ ” it said.
“It’s probably the feeling of just a few people and should not have been put in the report,” said Young.
“Because that’s not the feeling of the majority of people in Rugby Canada I’ve talked to the past 10 years, who are very happy with Langford. It’s not isolated. It’s a metro area of more than 400,000 people. And Vancouver is twice as expensive to live in and Toronto three times as expensive. It’s a year-round training venue. You can’t play rugby in five feet of snow.”
Weather, combined with support systems provided by groups such as Canadian Sport Institute-Pacific, Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence and 94 Forward, have been cited as reasons why Rugby Canada, Rowing Canada, Triathlon Canada, Cycling Canada, Athletics Canada and Surf Canada are among the national sporting federations located on the Island or that have national training centres here. On the winter side, athletes are not getting to the Winter Olympics unless they are willing to relocate to Calgary or Whistler where there are facilities and support services for winter sports.
“We are absolutely not moving our high-performance centre,” said Gareth Rees, director of commercial and program relations for Rugby Canada.
“I know what I trained in, and it wasn’t this,” said Rees, who played in four World Cups for Canada, two as captain.
“I’ve been on pro clubs that don’t have a fraction of what we have in Langford,” added Rees, referring to Starlight Stadium and the adjacent state-of-the art Al Charron indoor national training facility.
“As for athlete housing, [Langford] council is looking into some options.”
Those include the possibility of athlete dorms near Starlight Stadium in partnership with Rugby Canada and professional soccer club Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League.
“We have land around the stadium and have been very successful in partnerships with other groups,” said Young, noting the Langford sports precinct includes a hockey rink, dryland rink, bowling alley and Boulderhouse wall-climbing facility.
The independent report, commissioned by Rugby Canada, addressed the culture at the national training centre in Langford after poor on-field results that included Canada missing the 2023 men’s World Cup after qualifying for all nine previous editions, and the fall of the women’s sevens team from 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallists to missing the quarter-finals last summer at the Tokyo Olympics.
The report said Rugby Canada is a dysfunctional organization and many of its athletes feel they are undervalued. In a statement, Rugby Canada chair Sally Dennis acknowledged that there are concerns and the report’s findings will be addressed.
“A lot of this is human nature,” said Young. “You don’t hear from teams and organizations that are winning but there’s a lot of fingerpointing after losing. Let’s move forward and be proud of playing for Canada on the world stage. Let’s get that pride back. Nothing is perfect in this world, but we’re here long term for Rugby Canada as a partner. We’re here for them and to support them as much as possible.”
A tangible symbol of that, said Young, is the HSBC World Series women’s Canada Sevens tournament to be held at Starlight Stadium April 30-May 1.
