The Canada Grizzlies Masters rugby league starts UK tour this month

The Canada Grizzlies Masters rugby league

The Canada Grizzlies are a national masters rugby league team representing Canada, according to canadarugbyleague.com. They play in the United Kingdom this month, participating in the upcoming masters’ World Cup festival in the UK from November 14.

Canada Grizzlies Masters rugby league UK tour starts

Beginning their planning for the Masters festival required the Canada Grizzlies to formalize a squad and to name their coaching staff and management. To start with, we meet the players that will represent Canadian rugby league over this exciting tour.

There are some notable names on this list. First is Bob Jowett, who is the president of the Canada Rugby League. He was born in Halifax, England and was raised as a Bradford Northern/Bulls fan according to Canadian Rugby League. Bob and his family moved to Barrie, Ontario in 2004. There is also Nicholas Mew, who also lives in Barrie, Ontario. He is a Toronto Wolfpack fan, amateur writer, and schoolteacher in Ontario.

There is also Chris Bond and Dan Tate, who are both co-captains of the Ontario Greybeards according to Ontario Greybeards. These four are just a few of the many that will be playing in the UK this month.

Captains and head coaches of the team unveiled

The captains of the Canada Wolverines were revealed in October. This included Mew, Jarrett Muldoon, and Michael Steer. There were also coaches revealed by the Canada Masters seen above. This included Daniel Tate, who was born in Dewsbury, England. In a family of rugby league enthusiasts, he played for several clubs around West Yorkshire, England. He and his family moved to Canada in 2010 and became permanent citizens.

Since then, he has been involved with rugby league in Canada. This includes being a coach for the Haldimand Wolfpack Junior side and a playing member and Vice President of the Ontario Greybeards Masters rugby league club. He, Mew, Tate, Jarrett Muldoon, Jonathan Duncan, and Michael Steer are all directors of the Ontario Greybeards Masters Rugby League according to open corporates.

Lastly, Tate was elected to the CRLA board in November 2020 yet with his established contacts and belief in the sports future, expect Canadian rugby league to gain in the involvement of men like Tate in the International masters’ tournament in England.

This will be a big occasion for Canadian rugby league. As seen in the Tweet above, Mew and his students signed a maple leaf flag before the Masters made their trip to the United Kingdom. Expect it to fly high and proudly, wherever the men are welcomed and play.

History of Masters rugby league in Canada, and its definition

Promoted by the Toronto Wolfpack webpage, Chris Ashton details what Masters rugby league means for the game. Ashton, who is the Silverbacks tour organizer explains, “Masters is social rugby at its finest and is, in fact, the fastest-growing form of Rugby League in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, with France also increasing participation.

“It is a great way of keeping fit (both mentally and physically), meeting new mates, occasional business networking and most importantly, having fun. We’re lucky and privileged to bring this fantastic sport to Canada for the first time in 2019.”

The South London Silverbacks, a master’s club took part in a skills day at Oakley Park Public School in Barrie, Ontario.

The Canada Grizzlies Masters Rugby League start their tour to England from November 12-23. There, they will play a couple of select games against invited teams, followed by an international festival against England, Wales, and Ireland.

As stated on the host nation’s website, “the Grizzlies are coming!” 

The first game will be against Masters “Dads & Lads” on November 14 at the South Leeds Stadium according to Masters Rugby League. The game after that will be at Crosfields Masters on November 17 at Victoria Park, Warrington. These two games present an excellent run-up to the International Festival at Leigh Easts, on November 21.

 

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