The Niagara Lightning (formerly Niagara Thunder) are a Canadian rugby union team based in southern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The team plays in the

Rugby Canada National Junior Championship The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship was an amateur rugby union competition in Canada. It only lasted two seasons, 2009 and 2010. The 2009 champion was the Vancouver Wave, and the 2010 championship went to the Newfoundland Rock. The leag ...

and draws most of its players from the Niagara Rugby Union. The Lightning play their "home" games in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

( Mohawk Sports Park) and nearby Burlington, Oakville ( Crusader Park), and

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

History

In 1998,

Rugby Canada Rugby Canada is the national Sport governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amate ...

and the provincial unions agreed to form the

Rugby Canada Super League The Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL or Super League) was a national, semi-professional rugby union competition in Canada. The league represented the second level of domestic rugby union in Canada, and the highest level wholly indigenous to Canada ...

. Fourteen unions and sub-unions were invited to compete in the new semi-professional league. However, the Niagara Rugby Union (along with the Toronto Rugby Union and the Eastern Ontario Rugby Union) decided not to participate. Toronto and Eastern Ontario joined the league the following year, leaving Niagara as the only invited union not to join. The Niagara Rugby Union decided to field a team in time for the 2004 RCSL season, and the new club was named the Niagara Thunder. In 2012, the Niagara Rugby Union put together two Under 17, 7-aside teams in both the boys' and girls' divisions of the Ontario Summer Games held at York University. Since 2012, all U-17 7-aside squads have played under the name Niagara Thunder, including the 2014 Ontario Summer Games held in Windsor.

References

External links

Hockey Database
Sports clubs and teams in Hamilton, Ontario Rugby union teams in Ontario Rugby clubs established in 2004 2004 establishments in Ontario {{Ontario-sport-stub