Canada’s Charron to be inducted into World Rugby Hall of Fame
Canadian men’s rugby is getting its second hall-of-famer.
World Rugby, the global body that oversees the sport, announced Thursday in Dublin that Al Charron is in the 2017 hall of fame class.
There are four others who will be honoured Nov. 10 in the English town of Rugby, which is home to the World Rugby Hall of Fame: Argentina’s Felipe Contepomi, England’s Rob Andrew, France’s Fabien Pelous and the U.S.’s Phaidra Knight. There are now 137 honoured members of the hall.
Charron is the third Canadian to be honoured, after Gareth Rees, who was inducted in 2011, and Heather Moyse, inducted last year.
This year’s group was selected from a short list complied by a Hall of Fame panel.
The World Rugby Hall of Fame panel is chaired by former Australian captain — and sixth inductee — John Eales. Pablo Mamone (Argentina), Henri Garcia (France), David Hands (England), Rob Cole (Wales) and Anna Richards (New Zealand) round out the panel.
Charron, who captained his country 25 times, called the honour, “embarrassing, humbling ... but tickled pink.”
He said he found out about the honour “three or four weeks ago” when Eales emailed him.
“I thought, ‘Cool, maybe (Eales) is coming to Canada again like last year, for another visit for one of his business interests,’ ” he said.
But when he read the email, he had a reaction that will not be a surprise to anyone who knows him.
“I thought, Holy f---! No way,’ ” he said. ” ‘Is this really happening?’ A bunch of emotions, just a feeling of thankfulness and elation.”
He said keeping the secret the past few weeks was very hard, “because I was bursting with pride.”
Now he’s thrilled to let everyone know.
“I am really fortunate that I have so many good people in my life that think enough of me to have backed, promoted and pumped me up such that I am getting these incredible honours.”
In their news release, World Rugby describes Charron as “one of the most dominant loose forwards in the world during the 1990s.”
He played in four Rugby World Cups (1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003), a rare feat. He was capped 76 times by Canada and was passed as the all-time leader only this past summer by Aaron Carpenter.
“Standing 1.96-metres tall and weighing close to 123 kilograms in his playing days, the Ottawa native cut an imposing figure on the field and opponents feared and admired him in equal measure for his high work rate and uncompromising play,” World Rugby added.
“A fine leader, Charron captained the Canadian national team 25 times — a record he still shares with Gareth Rees. He was also a member of Canada’s squad at the inaugural Rugby World Cup Sevens in 1993 and turned out for the world-famous Barbarians five times. Professionally, he played club rugby for Bristol and Moseley in England, and with Dax in France.”