Bytown Blues Newsletter: The 2025 season is about to kick-off!

May 7, 2025

Senior Men's Home Opener, Blues Representing Canada, and more ...

If you become a Bytown Blues Social Member, you'll help us out more than you know!

April 24, 2025

Score some sweet merch, help fund grassroots-level rugby, and more! ...

Bytown Blues: 2025 season registration is now open, and what else you need to know!

March 29, 2025

What you need to know: Bytown Blues March Newsletter

March 1, 2025

Trivia Night, the official Senior Men's schedule, Blues Day, coaching clinics, and more! ...

Blues Newsletter: January 2025 - Order your gear, sponsor the club, sign up for our trivia night, winter training update, and more!

January 29, 2025

Here's what you need to know for the end of January ...

Calling all Potential Blues Coaches

January 14, 2025

Calling all Potential Blues Coaches... ...

Get ready for this year's rugby season with an exclusive Bytown strength training program!

January 12, 2025

Give yourself or your young athlete access to a professionally-made training program ...

Blues Advance to Marshall Championship!

January 7, 2025

Blues Advance to Marshall Championship!... ...

Bytown Blues: Exclusive Off-season Strength and Conditioning Program Available in the New Year

December 19, 2024

Give yourself or your young athlete access to a professionally-made training program ...

December 2024 - Year End Newsletter

December 11, 2024

Bytown Blues November: Get your banquet tickets, AGM reminder, Winter Training info

November 14, 2024

We need your help! Volunteer Board Members Needed, Info on our End-of-Year Banquet, and more ...

Help the Bytown Blues: attend our Annual General Meeting and volunteer for an admin role!

November 4, 2024

You can have a vote and role in helping shape and run our rugby club. We need volunteers! ...

Bytown Blues News - Wed, December 11 2024

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December Newsletter: Year-End Edition

In this issue:

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Register now for winter training

Starts: January 4, 2025 to March 22, 2025 - Saturdays from 6PM-7PM

Where: Ottawa University, GeeGees Field, 200 Lees Ave

Registration and Payment: $169.50 (includes GST)
How: There are two streams for registration and payment.

All Existing Registered Members (who were registered and played for us in 2024) visit this link: https://rugbycanada.sportsmanager.ie/sportlomo/registration/event-registration/index/108

OR for more information, see our website: https://bytownbluesrugby.ca/registration/?tab=winter-reg
NEW Memberships, who did not play for us or another club in 2024
(Opens mid-December). Please consult the website: https://bytownbluesrugby.ca/registration/?tab=winter-reg

Get your tickets for the Annual Blues Banquet

Every year we gather to celebrate the year, our accomplishments and our members. All senior players, graduating juniors, parents, volunteers and old boys are welcome. Join us for delicious BBQ and good company!

2024 year-end summary & highlights

Total Club Membership: 283 Active members in 2024

Senior Men’s: 51 registered senior men.

Record Men’s 1st: 7-3-1 (Finished 2nd Overall in Regular Season)

Championship 2-0 in playoffs, 2nd consecutive EORU Championship win

Men’s 2nds: 4-5 (Regular Season, 6th Overall)

Senior Women’s: 57 registered women’s players.

Finished 2nd in Div 2 EORU, competitive and great season!

Junior Boys: Fielded teams at U14, U16, U18 for both Summer and Fall 7s

U14 - 24 players
U16 - 45 players
U18 - 44 players Highlights:
U16s - robust exhibition schedule (BS, OI, GHS)
U18s - Undefeated League Table

Tours/Hosting:

U16s/18s hosted St Ambrose College
U18s Spring tour: Maryland (def U Delaware, MDX)

Junior Girls:

Another excellent year for junior women with 55 registered players, and a deep bench of committed junior women coaches. This program continues to graduate players to our senior women’s team, Canadian Universities, and Rugby Canada’s National teams.

Minor:

Excellent program development year. We are going into 2025 with great momentum!

Coaching:

The Bytown Blues have 17 registered World Rugby Certified coaches supporting our 5 programs. Another 8-12 volunteer coaches also contributed to player development and growing our game. Barton Award recipients.

Match Officials:

The Bytown Blues have 8 World Rugby Match Officials refereeing games at the club and high school levels. The most of any club in Ottawa!

Blues on the move

Many Blues alumni (and current players) go on to play rugby around the Canada and the globe, playing high level or rep rugby with distinction. Here are some examples of Blues on the move:

Elias Hancock

Elias competed for Canada 7’s Senior Men throughout the year and captained them to a championship at the Rugby Americas North Tournament in Trinidad and Tobago!

This win qualified Canada for the 2025 HSBC World Rugby Challenger Series, where they aim to move back up into the HSBC SVNS 2026 top championship. Elias also joined our Senior Men’s team for some games and played a pivotal role in their playoff run towards an EORU Championship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBm6GnLcjhA

Gabe Casey

Having made his International debut for Canada Men’s XV’s last Fall, Gabe played Centre this year for the New England Free Jacks in the MLR and is set to play for the Utah Warriors next year, after signing with them this Fall.

Rachel Cullum and Jiggy Schonfeld

Rachel and Jiggy played for Canada’s U20 Women’s 15s team and Queen’s University this year. Highlights included a dominant win over England with Rachel scoring a hatrick in the second game of the Women’s U20 Transatlantic Quad Series in Wales. Both also started in the Bronze medal match at the Canadian University Women’s Rugby Championship for Queen’s with Rachel scoring a game winning try at the final whistle claiming player of the match.

Coen Quinn
As a u18 “junior”, Coen made the u19 Ontario side, helping them capture a Canadian Rugby Championship! Additionally, Coen was invited to Rugby Canada’s U18 evaluation camp in Guelph along with his teammate, Finn Enticknap- Smith

2025 Blues executive team announcements

As a club, we rely on the hard work of a few dedicated volunteer members who step up every year to run our club. We would like to thank the current and past executive board members for their dedication and commitment. The following members have just stepped back and in some cases taken on new roles.

Join us in thanking them for years of dedication and hard work:

Jim Shaw (Past President)
Myles Dingwall (Past VP Communications)
Emmett Maher (Past Treasurer)
Kyle Labine (Past Social)
Ryan Surgenor (Past Director of Rugby)
Adrian Blackett (Past Old Boys Rep)

Bytown Blues RFC 2025 Board of Directors:

President (new): Rupert Bonham-Carter
VP Administration (new): Andrew Wallace
Secretary (new): James Edgar
Treasurer (new): Brian McCandie
VP Finance: Kerry Labine
VP Communications (new): John Dent
VP Men: Kurt Dingwall
VP Women: Andrew Matsukubo
VP Junior Women: Jim Shaw
VP Junior Men: Matt Carter
VP Minors: Chris Knowlton
Social (new): Brendan Copeland Dinan
Merchandise: Emily Labine
Registration: Cecilia Nicol
Sponsorships: Myles Dingwall

Your club urgently needs you!

As you can see, we have some open positions still for 2025.

Director of Rugby
Director Communications
Communications Team x 3 (social media, newsletter, website)
Old Boys Representative(s)
Twin Elm Rugby Park (TERP) Representative
Community/Development Manager
Training & Education Manager

Please email president@bytownbluesrugby.ca if you’d like more information about joining this exceptional volunteer organization. We are hoping for better representation from our parent volunteers, and the old boys community.

The communications team roles will be an excellent opportunity for anyone looking to get hands on experience in digital media and juice up the resume. Come and join the fun. No experience required.

Our Valued Sponsors

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Our mailing address is:
1830 Walkley Rd Unit 92, Ottawa, ON, CA, K1H 8K3

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