Hey all,

A Leyther friend suggested I post some news about rugby league developments here in Canada - so this post should bring you all up to speed! Rugby League was reborn here last year with the founding of Canada Rugby League. 2010 was the first year the sport had been played in Canada in ten years. Two domestic club sides were formed last year - The Toronto City Saints and Niagara Bobcats. The Saints received sponsorship from St Helens in the form of full kit and coaching assistance. The coaching via Kieron Purtill, who came over and coached our national side through two international matches last Fall. We were very lucky to have him. All told we played four international matches last year - and one ended up quite close with us marginally losing to a far more experienced US side. We have several more international fixtures planned this year, and we doubled our domestic competition to feature four clubs for 2011. The new clubs are York region Reds (sponsored by Salford City Reds) and Scarborough Centurions. I am the manager of the Centurions side and we are obviously sponsored by the great folks at Leigh Centurions. We received a generous gift of full kit for our entire side and extra shirts and pinnies. For us it's a wonderful feeling - being connected to a professional team with deep roots in English rugby league. I can guarantee you that every guy who walks out onto the pitch in his smart red Centurions kit feels extraordinarily proud to be associated with Leigh, the club and her fans. We've also found that there are folks originally from Leigh living in and around Toronto who are big Centurions fans. We've already attracted two Leigh fans out to our games and we're looking forward to meeting more. One of those two fans has gone on to join the club as a player/coach, the other walked up to me after our last game and handed me a wad of cash, offering it as a gift to help offset our many expenses. It showed me that the generosity shown by Leigh Centurions wasn't a one-off - that Centurions fans are just as generous as the club itself. This whole experience has been pretty amazing for all of us. We've met the most amazing people and we've been able to develop rugby league - a game nearly unknown here.

So with all that said, for those Leigh fans interested in how our season has been going, Scarborough Centurions sit 1-0-1 two games into the domestic season. We had a tie in our first game and lost a squeaker last weekend to the Saints. We play first place Niagara next week.

Photos of the Centurions first two matches can be found here:

www.pbase.com/colinwatson/centurions_saints_2011

www.pbase.com/colinwatson/centurions_reds_2011

There are lots of photos on our website of last year's international fixtures. Click here to look through those:

www.pbase.com/colinwatson

And finally, feel free to check out CRL's website. There's always news about what we're up at the domestic club and international level. That site is here: www.canadarugbyleague.com

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

All the best,

Colin W
Canada Rugby League

Hey all,

A Leyther friend suggested I post some news about rugby league developments here in Canada - so this post should bring you all up to speed! Rugby League was reborn here last year with the founding of Canada Rugby League. 2010 was the first year the sport had been played in Canada in ten years. Two domestic club sides were formed last year - The Toronto City Saints and Niagara Bobcats. The Saints received sponsorship from St Helens in the form of full kit and coaching assistance. The coaching via Kieron Purtill, who came over and coached our national side through two international matches last Fall. We were very lucky to have him. All told we played four international matches last year - and one ended up quite close with us marginally losing to a far more experienced US side. We have several more international fixtures planned this year, and we doubled our domestic competition to feature four clubs for 2011. The new clubs are York region Reds (sponsored by Salford City Reds) and Scarborough Centurions. I am the manager of the Centurions side and we are obviously sponsored by the great folks at Leigh Centurions. We received a generous gift of full kit for our entire side and extra shirts and pinnies. For us it's a wonderful feeling - being connected to a professional team with deep roots in English rugby league. I can guarantee you that every guy who walks out onto the pitch in his smart red Centurions kit feels extraordinarily proud to be associated with Leigh, the club and her fans. We've also found that there are folks originally from Leigh living in and around Toronto who are big Centurions fans. We've already attracted two Leigh fans out to our games and we're looking forward to meeting more. One of those two fans has gone on to join the club as a player/coach, the other walked up to me after our last game and handed me a wad of cash, offering it as a gift to help offset our many expenses. It showed me that the generosity shown by Leigh Centurions wasn't a one-off - that Centurions fans are just as generous as the club itself. This whole experience has been pretty amazing for all of us. We've met the most amazing people and we've been able to develop rugby league - a game nearly unknown here.

So with all that said, for those Leigh fans interested in how our season has been going, Scarborough Centurions sit 1-0-1 two games into the domestic season. We had a tie in our first game and lost a squeaker last weekend to the Saints. We play first place Niagara next week.

Photos of the Centurions first two matches can be found here:

www.pbase.com/colinwatson/centurions_saints_2011

www.pbase.com/colinwatson/centurions_reds_2011

There are lots of photos on our website of last year's international fixtures. Click here to look through those:

www.pbase.com/colinwatson

And finally, feel free to check out CRL's website. There's always news about what we're up at the domestic club and international level. That site is here: www.canadarugbyleague.com

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

All the best,

Colin W
Canada Rugby League

The Canadians are now getting the SLE games via Setanta Fred.

www.canadarugbyleague.com/site/e ... p?id=10099

The Canadians are now getting the SLE games via Setanta Fred.

www.canadarugbyleague.com/site/e ... p?id=10099

have a look on www.oneills.com/
they do the centurions kit and they do some good value t shirts polos shorts ect... but without the logo on but they are really good stuff .

have a look on www.oneills.com/
they do the centurions kit and they do some good value t shirts polos shorts ect... but without the logo on but they are really good stuff .