It is my pleasure to report to you on the inaugural grants awarded by the Purdey Group Fund, announced on May 1, 2021 to the teams awarded a grant or who were unsuccessful in their submission \u2013 19 teams in all.
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Background<\/strong><\/p>\n The Purdey Group Fund was established in 2019 by Andrew Purdey and Mike Holmes both of British Columbia, to help established and emerging university men\u2019s rugby programs across the entire country kickstart and\/or accelerate the growth and development of their teams. This is consistent with the objects of the Canadian Rugby Foundation, an important sponsor of the Canadian University Rugby Championship (CUMRC), to grow and develop the game of rugby across Canada, and in a sense, was designed to provide some much-needed funds that were already being made available to U SPORTS Women\u2019s Rugby programs. These grants also recognize the critical role that university rugby plays in the development path to Canada\u2019s senior team, as illustrated by the number of Canadian university alumni playing for the senior team in recent years (see Appendix 2)<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the 2020 grants were postponed as the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to our 2020 seasons, playoffs, and the CUMRC. The 2021 grant program was relaunched last summer, and a committee was struck to flesh out the evaluation criteria and the process for what was expected to be a handful of applications.<\/p>\n Grant Applications<\/strong><\/p>\n Beyond our expectations, a total of 19 applications were submitted by the April 15 deadline, representing clubs ranging from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and teams established over 60 years ago to new clubs barely a year old. Every one of the applications provided a description of the rugby program, its resources, the level of university athletics support, the overall environment including fields, facilities, strength & conditioning, equipment, and other supports, operating plans and budgets, aspirations for the program, and a road map on how to get there. Of particular interest were the details on how any grant funds would be used to improve the program.<\/p>\n As might be expected, many of the applications showed a lot of similarities in program but also significant differences. But where a school might score well on one criterion, they would do less well on another, so many of these factors offset each other when all the programs and the criteria were compared, resulting in an extremely close competition.<\/p>\n The following schools submitted applications, representing over half of the schools eligible for the Canadian University Men\u2019s Rugby Championship this November in Kingston:<\/p>\n Brock University 2021 Grant Awardees<\/strong><\/p>\n A total of $60,000 was awarded.<\/p>\n The inaugural Purdey Group Fund grants of $8,000 in the \u201cPerformance\u201d category are: And the inaugural Purdey Group Fund grants of $2,000 in the \u201cEmerging\u201d category are: COMMUNICATIONS AND DISBURSEMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n Each head coach was notified on May 1, (See Appendix 1 for comments from coaches and athletic directors) and a general announcement was made on May 3. We expect disbursements to be made on or about September 1, 2021, just ahead of the season openers, by which time we will have greater clarity on the Canadian University Men\u2019s Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n THANK YOU<\/strong><\/p>\n On behalf of the teams involved, thank you for your support of Canadian University Men\u2019s Rugby. We believe these grants will be of immense help in either kick-starting, accelerating, or sustaining the growth and develop of these university rugby programs, and improving the overall landscape of rugby in Canada.<\/p>\n On behalf of the Purdey Group Fund Evaluation Committee: Jeff Chan APPENDIX 2: FEEDBACK FROM COACHES AND ATHLETIC DIRECTORS<\/strong><\/p>\n University of Waterloo<\/strong><\/p>\n Good morning. Many thanks for considering and awarding this grant to our rugby team. We are excited about the direction our program is going under Graham\u2019s leadership, and this will definitely enhance that trajectory and the impact on the student-athlete experience. With gratitude — Roly Webster, AD<\/p>\n Dear Jeff and Dan: Thank you so much for the email and the award of the\u00a02021 Purdey Group Fund Performance Grant. We are very grateful for your support and know that our Warriors Men\u2019s Rugby program, and importantly the players, will benefit enormously from this.\u00a0Hopefully, we\u2019ll have some confirmation of a 2021 season before too long and then look forward to working with you to receive the award and push our program forward. Many thanks again for your support. Cheers — Graham Stickler, Head Coach<\/p>\n Queen\u2019s University<\/strong><\/p>\n Hi Jeff, thank you for selecting Queen\u2019s Men\u2019s Rugby for the 2021 Purdey Group Fund Performance Grant. This grant will be an important part of continuing to move the program forward. Thank you for your continued support and please pass my thanks onto Andrew Purdy and the Canadian Rugby Foundation for their continued support to University Rugby. Thanks \u2013 Dave Butcher, Head Coach<\/p>\n Trinity Western University<\/strong><\/p>\n This is so fantastic, and you can rest assured it will be put to great use by Andy and the athletes! \u00a0Thank you so much for your generosity and support. \u2013 Jeff Gamache, AD<\/p>\n Good morning Jeff and Committee members, we are honoured to be successful in this Purdey Group Fund Performance Grant and will ensure great return on this investment into our student athletes and Canadian rugby players. Thank you for your efforts and energy that you put into University Men\u2019s Rugby and taking the time to consider our application. With anticipation that there is a National Championship in November and to provide advanced notice, we have a fundraiser in November where the $8,000 could be matched and I can provide more details in the fall. Sincerely \u2013 Andy Evans, Head Coach<\/p>\n University of Guelph<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeff: I hope you are doing well and thank you very much for this great news Great news! Thanks very much for the selection — Cory Hector<\/p>\n University of Calgary<\/strong><\/p>\n Thank you, Jeff! We are honoured and grateful for the emerging program grant, and truly appreciate this initiative and support for Men\u2019s University Rugby.\u00a0Thank you from all of us at the Dinos –Rayner Hart, Head Coach<\/p>\n Hi Jeff, this is outstanding news, sincere thanks on behalf of UCalgary and our men\u2019s rugby program. All the best — Ben Matchett, Interim AD<\/p>\n Trent University<\/strong><\/p>\n Hi Dan and Jeff, I trust that this note finds you and your families doing well during this time. Thank you for your email and Trent Athletics and our Excalibur Men\u2019s Rugby program are very pleased that we are a recipient of the\u00a02021-22 Purdey Group Fund Emerging Program Grant\u00a0in the amount of $2,000.00 to enhance our program\u2019s continued growth. Please let us know if anything else is required at this time. Have a good day and thank you again for your support of our Excalibur Men\u2019s Rugby program. Regards — Deborah Bright-Brundle, AD<\/p>\n On behalf of our program- we can’t thank you enough for the support! #1EX #1EXCALIBUR \u2013 Trent post on CUMRC Facebook page<\/p>\n University of Ottawa<\/strong><\/p>\n Fantastic!\u00a0Those funds will go towards compensating our assistant coaches who put so many volunteer hours into our program.\u00a0We greatly appreciate the support, THANK YOU! Congrats Coach Steph!\u00a0 Well deserved. On behalf of uOttawa, thank you Jeff, Dan, The Purdy Group and everyone else responsible for this support of our Men\u2019s Rugby team at uOttawa!\u00a0\u00a0 It is greatly appreciated.\u00a0Hope to see everyone on the field this fall!\u00a0\u00a0 We are lucky at uOttawa to have Coach Crawley leading our troops! Enjoy the day everyone. — Sue Hylland, AD<\/p>\n Brock University<\/strong><\/p>\n OK. Thanks Jeff.\u00a0Unfortunate for us, but we will make the best of it. We believe we have a strong program and that\u2019s what matters most. We trust the judgement of the committee and can\u2019t wait until we can finally get back at it and show the country what we\u2019re all about.\u00a0We appreciate the work you\u2019ve put in to grow the game in Canada and look forward to competing again! Cheers! — Shawn Windsor, Head Coach<\/p>\n Mount Royal University<\/strong><\/p>\n Thank you Jeff and Dan for considering our application. Although we are disappointed, we are grateful such an opportunity exists for men’s rugby programs across Canada.\u00a0We would appreciate any feedback you have to increase our chances of being successful in future years.\u00a0Thank you — Maria Samson, Head Coach<\/p>\n Concordia University<\/strong><\/p>\n Jeff, this is really exciting news for the continued growth of our program! – D\u2019Arcy Ryan, AD<\/p>\n UBC Okanagan<\/strong><\/p>\n Good morning, Congratulation Chris – this is great news!!! — Lucia\u00a0M.\u00a0Boersma on behalf of AD\u00a0<\/p>\n McMaster University<\/strong><\/p>\n Hi Jeff, Thanks for the update, and thanks again for organizing! Hopefully this Covid mess settles down and we get back on the pitch this fall! Thanks again for all your hard work on this, Jeff. Best — Dan Pletch, Head Coach Jeff, this is great news! Very much appreciated — Andy Duplessis, former Head Coach.
\nConcordia University
\nDalhousie University
\n\u00c9cole de technologie sup\u00e9rieure
\nMcMaster University
\nMemorial University
\nMount Royal University
\nQueen’s University
\nTrent University
\nTrinity Western U
\nUBC Okanagan
\nUniversit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al
\nUniversity of Alberta
\nUniversity of Calgary
\nUniversity of Guelph
\nUniversity of New Brunswick
\nUniversity of Ottawa
\nUniversity of Saskatchewan
\nUniversity of Waterloo<\/p>\n
\nConcordia University
\nQueen\u2019s University
\nTrinity Western University
\nUniversity of Guelph
\nUniversity of New Brunswick
\nWaterloo University<\/p>\n
\nMemorial University
\nTrent University
\nUBC Okanagan
\nUniversity of Alberta
\nUniversity of Calgary
\nUniversity of Ottawa<\/p>\n
\nDan Valley, Leah Conforti, Francois Ratier, Jeff Chan<\/p>\n
\nChairman, Canadian University Rugby Championship
\nExecutive Director, Canadian Rugby Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI hope all of you are keeping well. Best. — Scott McRoberts, AD<\/p>\n
\nThank you for everything you\u2019re doing for rugby in Canada — Steph Crawley, Head Coach<\/p>\n
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\nUniversity of New Brunswick<\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nHey team, we got the $8,000 grant from the CUMRC. Nice! — Blake Edwards, Head Coach<\/p>\n