Sport Rugby union Inaugural season 1998 No. of teams 11 | Founded 1998 Ceased 2009 Country Canada | |
The Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL or Super League) was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada. In terms of seniority it rested immediately beneath the IRB sponsored North America 4, a former US/Canadian cross-border competition in which two Canadian teams (Canada East and Canada West) took part.
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In early 2009, after 11 seasons of Super League play, Rugby Canada decided to disband the RCSL in the wake of the establishment of the Americas Rugby Championship, the successor to the North America 4. The RCSL was replaced by the Canadian Rugby Championship and the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship, which absorbed the majority of the RCSL teams.
Most players took part in RCSL ("Super League") on an amateur basis.
Establishment
The competition was established in 1998 and has been played since on an annual basis. It is considered to be Canada's premier wholly domestic rugby competition. The Super League clubs draw from provincial unions, and the clubs are divided into two divisions – Eastern and Western. There are currently 13 teams in competition.
In addition, Rugby Canada organise a RCSL junior competition featuring 12 teams, as well as the National Women's League which follows a broadly similar template, albeit with fewer teams.
Overview
Founded in 1998, the Super League is considered to be Canada's premier rugby competition. In fact, players on Canada's senior men's team are often chosen from Super League clubs.
The Super League draws its teams from provincial unions. Larger unions (BC, Alberta, and Ontario) have more than one representative team; these teams are drawn largely from provincial sub-unions. For example, the Calgary Rugby Union and Edmonton Rugby Union are sub-unions of the larger Alberta Rugby Union and have both been given representation in the Super League.
Teams are divided into Eastern and Western Divisions. Teams play each of the other teams in their division once. The top team in each division play each other for the national championship.
The league has seldom had identical membership from season to season, with teams who have membership occasionally electing not to play due to financial, logistical or level-of-play concerns. For 2006 season, the Fraser Valley Rugby Union of B.C. ("The Venom") and the Manitoba Rugby Union ("The Buffalo") elected not to participate, which created an unbalanced situation where the Western Division had five teams (therefore only four games in their season), while the Eastern Division had seven (six games).