Rugby football in Ontario goes back to the 1870s. In those early days it was really a university sport. Until 1903 teams in the Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) played rugby union football rules. In 1903 the ORFU adopted the “Burnside Rules” (Google it).
St. Mary’s CSS Thunder - Firsts during 35 Yr Growth of Athletic Department
From T-shirts to Champions
High School Rugby was becoming popular in rural Ontario so teachers Rob Majdell and Ray Heffernan thought they would start a rugby program in the spring of 1993. St Mary’s Catholic Secondary School (SMCSS) was still a small school of about 400 students. The expectation was that 20 firm participants would be needed at every practice, at every lunch, to continue with this program.
Emerging in 2014 as the newly amalgamated public high school in Cobourg, Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CCI) has brought together the rich athletic histories of the former Cobourg District Collegiate Institute East and Cobourg District Collegiate Institute West schools. Moving from medium sized “AA” schools (between 500-900 students) to a larger AAA school (1150 students in 2020), C.C.I. offers its students an extensive selection of sports teams, with the continued pride and success that was enjoyed by the former East and West schools.