Fergus Highland Rugby celebrates 35 years
Celebration on June 20 at the clubhouse in Victoria Park Fergus
FERGUS – Fergus Highland Rugby is celebrating its 35th anniversary and is opening its clubhouse doors and field to the community to give rugby a try.
“There’s a lot of running and challenged aggression,” said Joe Bowley, past president of the club, who continues to play, coach and sit on the executive.
“It’s a good sport for everybody.”
On June 20 the club is holding a full day of rugby matches and family fun followed by a banquet at the clubhouse in Victoria Park in Fergus.
The day’s events run from 10am to 4pm and doors open for the banquet at 6pm with dinner served at 7pm.
Rugby is a popular sport in England and when Bowley immigrated to Canada 20 years ago, he quickly joined a men’s team right out of high school.
“Now we have teams from under 6 to over 65 with 800 members,” he boasted. “We’re one of the strongest clubs in the province.”
Teams participate in league play in cities and towns across the province and the club hosts its share of games in Fergus as well.
The U18 boys team won at the provincials last year, which is a nice feather in the club’s hat.
There are girls’ and women’s teams, “and we’d like to grow that,” Bowley said, adding there is capacity and interest in rugby locally.
On June 20, there will be stations set up where people can test skills like passing and goal kicking.
A good number of alumni have committed to attending and Bowley said it should be fun to catch up with old friends.
He said he loves the physical and mental aspects of the game, “but there’s a social side, too.”
He particularly enjoys that rugby can be multi-generational, where parents, their parents and their children all play.
“We have people here who have played for 50 years,” he said. “It’s just a great game.”
For more information about the club, the banquet and the 35th anniversary celebration, visit highlandrugby.com.
