Canadian Rugby Premiership

[nas1787]

Hey everyone, I thought I'd introduce you to the concept league that I have been working on for some time now. I'm a big fan of rugby, played back in the day and still enjoy watching whenever I get a chance. Canada is currently considered a Tier 2 rugby nation and is 14th in the IRB rankings. I'd love to see Canada move into the top 10 and become a true Tier 1 nation. A big problem is the fact that there are very few international roster spots in the top rugby competitions around the world, making it difficult for Canadian players to play on a regular basis against the best in the world.

My solution is a fully professional rugby union competition for Canada, which I have called the Canadian Rugby Premiership. The format would follow closely that of England's Aviva Premiership Rugby, with 12 teams playing a balanced schedule of 22 games per season. I thought about dividing the competition (I'm trying to avoid using the term 'league' to avoid confusion with rugby league) into an east and west division, but with a balanced schedule I didn't see much point. The top 6 teams make the playoffs with seeds 1 and 2 getting a bye to the semifinals. The final is played at a predetermined location (the playoff structure is very similar to the CFL).

I'll be introducing the clubs periodically. I already have a pretty good start on the concepts, but any C&C would be great. I've chosen names for each club, but am willing to be swayed. I'll start off by presenting the CRP logo and the location and name of the teams.

The CRP logo is pretty straightforward. The initials in a rugby ball shape with a maple leaf coming out the top. I wanted to keep it super simple so that it can be integrated easily into the kits. And this is the only maple leaf you'll see in the entire concept.

While working on this concept I have thought a lot about where teams would play. Rugby needs to be played on grass, which creates a problem as many Canadian stadiums have artificial turf. Toronto could play at BMO and Montreal at Saputo. Vancouver could play at Swangard. Beyond that I'm not too familiar with cities' stadiums, so if you have any suggestions of where clubs could play, let me know. The criteria would likely be no less than 5000 capacity with natural grass.

I'll introduce the teams randomly. If there is one you would like to see first, let me know. Anyone have thoughts on the structure, locations, names or the CRP logo?

Canadian Rugby Premiership

Pacific Coast Rugby Football Club

Vancouver Blues

Calgary Mounties

Edmonton City Rugby Club

Saskatchewan Prairie Dogs

Winnipeg Giants Rugby Football Club

Hamilton Steel Rugby Club

Toronto St. Pats

Ottawa Rugby Football Club

Montreal Rouges

Arlequins Quebec

Atlantic Confederation Rugby Club

[Saathoff]

This is very cool! I'm excited to see more. I'll be sure to follow your series

[Philsphan]

Yes this sounds fun! I will be following this series also. You picked great names for the cities and distributed the teams all across Canada, so that's a plus too.

[PacificCoastRL]

This sounds great and I look forward to your series. As a rugby league fan I appreciate the effort to avoid using "league" in your comments and in naming your comp. It's unfortunate that "league" is called "league", but that's the way it is. There has been some lively banter on a League forum about coming up with a new name, but it next to impossible. I like the name Premiership, but you could also use Union. Just a thought.

[mcrosby]

Where is Pacific Northwest located? If Canadian, shouldn't it be Pacific Southwest?

[nas1787]

Where is Pacific Northwest located? If Canadian, shouldn't it be Pacific Southwest?

That's a good point, I see what you're saying. The club is located in Victoria. I wanted a name other than Victoria, something that all of Vancouver Island could get behind. And I couldn't use Vancouver Island for obvious reasons.

Pacific Northwest is a term used mostly in the US, but it is also used to refer to the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island area. If you have a different suggestion, I'd be interested to hear it.

Edit: Is there an indigenous name for Vancouver Island? (like Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii)

[mcrosby]

"The island was originally named Quadra's and Vancouver's Island in commemoration of the friendly negotiations held by Spanish Commander of the Nootka Sound settlement Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, and British Naval Captain George Vancouver on Nootka Sound in 1792, to find a solution to the Nootka Crisis."

So maybe Q&V Rugby or something like that? I'm not too sure. I'll do some research.

[nas1787]

While we're on the subject I'll go ahead and post the concept.

Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Club (PNWRFC) is located in Victoria. I believe Rugby Canada has a Centre of Excellence in Langford, where the Americas Rugby Championship was played last year. Maybe this would be a suitable venue, though I'm not sure.

As mentioned above, the intent was to make the team appeal to all people on Vancouver Island, not just Victoria (given that its one of the smallest markets). I thought it important to have two clubs in BC though, as this is where rugby seems to be most popular in Canada.

The crest features a sitka spruce tree. I'm not 100% happy with the crest, so suggestions for improvement are welcome. The concept behind the kits were to use green and blue (unofficial colours of the Pacific Northwest) and have the accent colour located in the Northwest corner of the jersey (i.e. right shoulder). The home and alt are the same with mirrored colours. If I decide to change the name, the kits may need to be rethought as well. You'll notice with all my kits that there are no NOBs as is common in rugby.

[mcrosby]

I think the crest could work without the triangle on the blue jersey, just a stand alone tree and PNWRFC.

[nas1787]

I think the crest could work without the triangle on the blue jersey, just a stand alone tree and PNWRFC.

That eliminates the problem of a blue tree.

[ElTeduardo]

This looks really awesome. I've always wanted to see some rugby concepts on the boards, and im pretty excited for the series

[Saathoff]

I like the colors. Good job. My only suggestion is to make the numbers more readable. On a computer they look fine, but once you introduce it in person they would be hard to read from a distance. I don't really follow Rugby, but if the numbers aren't a huge concern, then keep as is

[PacificCoastRL]

Victoria's Royal Athletic Park seats just over 4,200 but can be expanded. Apparently temporary seats can be added to accomodate 25,000, but I think a reasonable configuration for rugby would be around 10,000. RAP is right in the middle of Victoria proper, close to downtown. Natural grass, with room for rugby. Sports have been played on the site since at least the 1940's. The Rugby Canada field you speak of, Westhills Stadium, has an IRB approved field turf surface. I don't know the capacity.

[nas1787]

Victoria's Royal Athletic Park seats just over 4,200 but can be expanded. Apparently temporary seats can be added to accomodate 25,000, but I think a reasonable configuration for rugby would be around 10,000. RAP is right in the middle of Victoria proper, close to downtown. Natural grass, with room for rugby. Sports have been played on the site since at least the 1940's. The Rugby Canada field you speak of, Westhills Stadium, has an IRB approved field turf surface. I don't know the capacity.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize there was such a thing as IRB approved artificial turf. RAP sounds like a perfect venue, city is always preferable to suburbs, IMO.

Does anyone else have suggestions for PNWRFC?

[Davidson]

Hopefully this will be of use: http://rezland.deviantart.com/art/Rugby-Kit-350465061

[raysox]

Looks good! I like the color and crest shape. I'll be following this thread.

[nas1787]

Hopefully this will be of use: http://rezland.devia...y-Kit-350465061

Thanks for this! I'm going to try out some of my concepts on it.

[GriffinM6]

I'm liking the PNW concept. One thing however that I don'at agree with is the use of "Pacific Northwest" Since you are in Canada, that would actually be the Pacific southwest.

[nas1787]

Yeah I don;t really like Pacific Southwest though, as that's not a term that is ever used. I'll have to think about this, maybe go for a full rebrand. Suggestions are welcome.

[nas1787]

In the meantime here is another club.

I liked the idea of using the Mounties as a nickname because 1) they are iconic not just in Canada but around the world, and 2) they have great uniforms. I decided to use the nickname for Calgary and base the kit design on the traditional Mountie uniform. The alternate kit is also based on an RCMP, but this time the everyday policing uniform. I included some photos for guides.

You can see that I tried to follow the basic colouring of each uniform while simplifying. The crest is based off RCMP ranking insignia, though I'm not sure which rank. Overall I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Would love to hear what you think.