“We provide positive experiences for everyone in our rugby community”

The Markham Irish Canadian Rugby Club provides competitive rugby programs for all age groups from Under 8 to Senior Men and Women. The Markham Irish Canadian Rugby Club was formed through the merging of the Markham Rugby Club and the Irish Canadian Rugby Club on January 30th, 2010. The Markham RFC was founded in 1980, has competed in the Marshall and Keenan Divisions. The ICRC, founded in 1950, has an enviable record of cup and league success by its senior men and women teams.

On Saturday June 12th, 2004 Markham RFC celebrated the official opening of the current Austin Drive clubhouse. The honourable Mayor, Don Cousens along with Deputy Mayor, Frank Scarpitti; Regional Councilor, Jack Heath; Ward 4 Councilor, George McKelvey, among others attended the ceremonial opening.  The beautiful clubhouse took four years of fund raising and negotiations followed by three years of construction almost entirely by volunteers. We gratefully acknowledge those who contributed financially, donated much needed supplies and materials, and who volunteered their time and skills towards making our dream come true.

The Irish Canadian Rugby Club was conceived at Riverdale Park as a team in September 1950. The first annual meeting of the club took place in February 1951 and the first executive committee was elected. The Irish Canadian Rugby Club was a founding member of the Ontario Rugby Union. In the 1960’s the club became a shareholder with Rugby Ontario and four other clubs when Fletcher’s Fields was purchased as a home field.

The original constitution stated that “membership should be confined to Irish or Canadians or such others as may be acceptable to the Executive Committee”. The diversity of players that contributed to the club’s success in the following sixty years validated the wisdom of that initial decision.  

The following decades saw huge successes in winning a record number of fourteen McCormick / Carling Cups and multiple Ontario League titles. The club routinely fielded three teams and occasionally managed to get a fourth team on the field. In its sixth decade, a women’s team was fielded and won the OWL League in 2008 and the OWL Cup in 2006, both within their first five years of existence.