Federal government helps fund Rugby Canada high-performance training centre

TORONTO – Thanks to an injection of up to $3 million from the federal government, Rugby Canada hopes to break ground on the next phase of its Centre of Excellence in Langford, B.C., in six months.

That involves a 19,000-square-foot high-performance training centre, with a 7,000-square-foot gym. The two-storey building will also include a medical centre, offices, locker-rooms, video analysis classroom, hydro-therapy facilities, cafeteria and a small residential component. There will also be a space for a Canada Rugby Hall of Fame.

The gym will be open to the community from noon to 10 p.m., said Rugby Canada CEO Graham Brown.

The federal money comes from Ottawa’s Building Canada Fund (Major Infrastructure Component).

“This is a major game-changing investment for us by the government of Canada,” Brown said in a statement. “Current and future generations of athletes will reap enormous benefit from training at the Centre of Excellence.”

Total cost of the project is $7,840,000 with the City of Langford, which has also helped with the land, responsible for $2.5 million.

Rugby Canada needs to raise another $1.6 million.

“And that is not an unachievable amount,” Brown said in an interview.

The existing facility at Langford houses Rugby Canada and most of its coaches. There are two playing fields and a very modest gym.

The new gym is large enough to accommodate both the men’s and women’s teams, with room for about 45 athletes working out at the same time. John Tait’s women’s sevens side has been working out in Victoria because there isn’t enough room in the existing Langford facility.

“The Centre will continue to support the training of Canada’s best amateur rugby athletes while also offering recreational opportunities to the general public that will help maintain their high quality of life,” John Duncan, minister of state and Vancouver Island North MP, said in a statement.

Construction will take about nine months, meaning the new centre won’t be open in time for 2016 Olympic preparations.

Brown’s next goal is to create a high-performance facility in Ontario.

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