Arrows give Major League Rugby its first Canadian team

TORONTO The Toronto Arrows have become Canada’s first professional rugby union side.

The Arrows, a beefed-up offshoot of the Ontario Blues squad that plays in the Canadian Rugby Championship, will begin play in Major League Rugby in 2019.

Season 2 of the North American league kicks off in January with nine teams: Austin (Texas), Houston, Glendale (Colorado), New Orleans, Rugby United New York, San Diego, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Toronto.

Arrows co-founder Bill Webb’s investor group includes former NHL executive Brian Burke, now a TV hockey pundit. A member of Rugby Canada’s board of directors, Burke started playing rugby as a law student.

Webb said the addition of Toronto makes MLR “a truly North American professional rugby league whose time has come.”

Rugby Canada CEO Allen Vansen called it “a monumental day for North American rugby and one that is immensely important for Rugby Canada’s aspirations for the growth of our game in Canada and for our men’s 15s national senior team.”

Vancouver has also expressed interest in joining the league, with Karl Harrison of North Star Rugby leading the way. The MLR said Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C., will join the league in 2020.

The Canadian winter will force the Arrows to open on the road with home games featuring in the second half of the season, which runs into early July. While details are still being finalized, York University looks to be their likely home.

Canada already has a pro rugby league team in the Toronto Wolfpack. Debuting in 2017, the Wolfpack play the 13-man version of the game in England’s second-tier Betfred Championship.