The Prairie Fire was a Canadian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

team based in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city population ...

. The team played in 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 ...

and the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship, which followed once the former was disbanded. The Fire drew most of their players from the Saskatchewan Rugby Union, one of fourteen Rugby Unions that had representative teams in the RCSL. The Prairie Fire played their home games at Regina Rugby Park in Regina. The Prairie Fire were Western Champions for the 2005 and 2006 seasons, but both times came up short in the Super League Final versus the Newfoundland Rock, once in Regina and once in St. Johns, Newfoundland, at Swilers Rugby Park. They won the MacTier Cup at Regina Rugby Park in 2007 defeating the Niagara Thunder, 28–12. These were three of five times that a team outside of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

has been the Western Champion of the RCSL; the other two times were by the Calgary Mavericks in 2003 and 2008.

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

. Fourteen unions and sub-unions were invited to compete in the new semi-professional league. The league is deemed semi-professional because some of the smaller clubs are paying foreign players to play for their side. However, the vast majority of the domestic players actually pay to play for their team. The Prairie Fire is by far the most liberal user of foreign professional players. In 2009,

decided to disband the RCSL and replace it with a new U-20 league called the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship. The Prairie Fire were chosen as one of the remaining RCSL clubs to enter the newly formed league.

External links

Canadian rugby union teams Defunct sports teams in Saskatchewan Sport in Regina, Saskatchewan {{Canada-rugbyunion-team-stub