![\"\"](\"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/rugby\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/McGill-Name-and-Logo-300x98.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I’m happy to pass along this news about the presentation of the inaugural McGill Men’s Rugby’s Dr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby Gentleman\u2019s Award<\/strong>, of which Mike Holmes and I assisted in the creation. This only partially offsets the recent bad news about the cancellation of McGill’s Women’s Rugby program, but we hope it will spur McGill Rugby alumni support to help rescue the Women’s program. We have offered our services to help create a university fund with the Canadian Rugby Foundation to both help resurrect the Women’s team and also sustain the Men’s team. This follows the achievement of the rival Bishop’s University RFC Alumni Endowment Fund started a year ago, and several other CRF university endowment funds established over the last 5 years.<\/p>\n McGill Redbirds Rugby Team Gives Out First <\/strong><\/span> Winston Churchill once famously observed that \u201crugby is a hooligan\u2019s game played by gentlemen\u201d. The award \u201crecognises and honours gentlemanly conduct and exemplary behaviour which has McGill Master of Science in Physical Therapy student Elliot Descarreaux,\u00a0a Quebec City native Mr. Descarreaux commented: “I was elated when I heard my name called as the winner of this The award was first proposed to McGill Athletics in late 2020 as a way of formally recognizing a According to McGill rules, a minimum of $80,000 needs to be raised and collected to create an The award\u2019s inspiration and namesake, Dr. Joseph Hanaway MDCM ’60, passed away in his The McGill University Rugby Football Club, in its storied 153-year history, has always placed great Neil Stephenson, a Toronto lawyer and McGill rugby alumnus who created the award in 2021 and <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m happy to pass along this news about the presentation of the inaugural McGill Men’s Rugby’s Dr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby Gentleman\u2019s Award, of which Mike Holmes and I assisted in the creation. This only partially offsets the recent bad news about the cancellation of McGill’s Women’s Rugby program, but we hope it will spur […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7247"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7259,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions\/7259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAthletic Financial Award <\/strong>in its 153-year History<\/strong><\/span>
\nMontreal, QC: November 30, 2025<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\nAt a ceremony in Montreal on Friday night, the McGill Redbirds Rugby Team handed out a fully
\nendowed Athletic Financial Award for the first time in its long history, with the inaugural winner
\nreceiving the Dr. Joseph Hanaway McGill Rugby Gentleman\u2019s Award.<\/p>\n
\nbeen consistently exhibited by a McGill rugby player on and off the field over the course of a
\nminimum of two seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nand the current team captain, was named the winner of the endowed 2025 Hanaway Award. He
\nwas given the prestigious honour, along with its associated $3,500 monetary award, due to his
\noutstanding performance as a role model and leader on and off the field throughout his 5-year
\nMcGill Rugby career. Widely respected by his teammates, coaches, opponents and referees, he
\nwas also known as a friendly, approachable, and courageous leader of his team who handled both
\nsuccess and adversity with grace.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/rugby\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Elliott-speech-233x300.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/rugby\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Neil-and-Elliot-2-3-200x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nprestigious award. I knew I had been nominated, but did not expect to win it. When I heard all the
\ncheers and applause as I walked to the stage, it made me feel very honoured and grateful for the
\nsupport of my teammates. This new endowed award at McGill Rugby is proof of the strong support
\nof our alumni and the brotherhood and strong\u00a0values of our rugby team across the generations. I
\nam thrilled to be the recipient of this year’s Hanaway Award”.<\/p>\n
\nquality that is especially valued in rugby culture across the world, and to which Churchill was
\nreferring: the trait of tough and aggressive rugby players exemplifying gentlemanly behaviour in their everyday life. It has been handed out for the last four years as a non-monetary award to five rugby players who distinguished themselves as role models for Redbirds Rugby.<\/p>\n
\nendowed Athletic Financial Award or AFA. As of December 2025, the fund has collected $148,764 from which the $3500 award will be generated every year going forward, in perpetuity.<\/p>\n
\nhometown of St. Louis in July of this year at 92 after a long and distinguished career as a
\nphysician, professor, author, philanthropist, and volunteer. He played on the 1955 championship
\nMcGill rugby team.<\/p>\n
\nimportance on how its members conduct themselves on campus and in the community. This is a
\npart of the team\u2019s culture that the coaching staff regularly emphasise to their players.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/canadianrugbyfoundation.ca\/rugby\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/McGill-Harvard-first-rugby-match-1874-300x176.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nled the subsequent fundraising campaign, commented:\u00a0“I was so honoured to be there at the
\nceremony\u00a0to represent\u00a0Joe and present\u00a0this inaugural\u00a0endowed Hanaway Award\u00a0to the 2025
\nwinner. Mr. Descarreaux is a hugely\u00a0impressive young gentleman who\u00a0is widely respected by his
\nteammates and coaches.\u00a0 He will be an excellent\u00a0ambassador for the award as he begins the next
\nchapter of his life as a distinguished young McGill rugby alum”.<\/p>\n