World-class rugby talent is closer—and cheaper—than most think.
Last Friday, on Aug. 22, the Women’s Rugby World Cup kicked off in Sunderland, England. On Saturday, Canada overtook Fiji with a decisive 65-7 victory. Notably, 29 of the 32 athletes on the Canadian roster have U Sports experience.
Taylor Perry, ArtSci ’24, and Sophie De Goede, Comm ’22, both captained the women’s rugby program during their time at Queen’s and started for Canada on Saturday. With visa challenges playing overseas, the lack of competitive Division I conferences, or funding for a professional league, many national team prospects choose to cut their teeth in U Sports.
The combination of poor funding for professional leagues and limited growth in the United States has created a unique opportunity for Canadian rugby fans: the chance to watch world-class athletes compete close to home. Being able to head to a university campus and see these players in action fosters a special sense of pride in the institutions that played a part in building Canada’s national team.
From the University of Victoria on the west coast to St. Francis Xavier University on the east, universities across the country have shaped the roster rugby fans see today on the world stage. Even athletes not yet on the national pathway benefit, training in high-performance environments and learning from some of the best.
Yet, the national reliance on U Sports talent, however, underscores the broader funding gap that continues to shape women’s rugby in North America.
Rugby hasn’t always been the most-watched sport in Canada and the United States, but it’s gaining popularity, increasing viewership by 25 percent year over year. Major League Rugby (MLR) was founded in 2017 and is a men’s rugby league based in the United States. But it wasn’t until 2025 that the Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) league began its inaugural season.
Despite these new leagues, funding and the level of competition in the MLR or WER don’t come close to what’s available overseas in England, France, Australia, and New Zealand. With the challenge of securing a visa to play overseas and the desire to stay close to home, many national team prospects choose to stay in U Sports, highlighting the lack of funding for a professional league in Canada.
Regardless of being ranked second in the world, the Canadian Women’s Rugby team had to fundraise its own way to the World Cup. Despite being some of the top athletes in the world, the most a rugby player in Canada will make is around 12 thousand dollars a year. Comparatively, the first-ranked England national team offers 100,000-dollar salaries to its players.
Rugby is slowly rising in popularity in Canada, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the nation soon gets its own professional league or a team in the WER. But even with this, leagues and teams take a long time to grow. So, for the time being, Canadian rugby fans should take advantage of the low-cost opportunity to witness top talent on university campuses and skip the trip to Europe for a more expensive ticket to watch.
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