The Prairie Fire was a Canadian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team based in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, 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 C ...

. 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 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 l ...

, which followed once the former was disbanded. The Fire drew most of their players from the

Saskatchewan Rugby Union The Saskatchewan Rugby Union is the provincial administrative body for rugby union in Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by ...

, one of fourteen Rugby Unions that had representative teams in the RCSL. The Prairie Fire played their home games at

Regina Rugby Park Regina (Latin for "queen") may refer to: Places Canada * Regina, Saskatchewan, the capital city of the province ** Regina (electoral district) ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina France * Régina, French Guiana, a commune United States * R ...

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 The Newfoundland Rock are a Canadian rugby union team based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The team plays in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship (RCNJC) and draws most of its players from the Newfoundland Rugby Union, one of ...

, once in Regina and once in St. Johns, Newfoundland, at Swilers Rugby Park. They won the

MacTier Cup The MacTier Cup is the name of the championship for the top senior men's rugby league in Canada. Originally awarded to the champion of the Rugby Canada Super League (RCSL), the MacTier Cup was established in 1998 along with the RCSL. The first MacT ...

in 2007 defeating the

Niagara Thunder The Niagara Lightning (formerly Niagara Thunder) are Canadian rugby union team based in southern Ontario. The team played in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship and draws most of its players from the Niagara Rugby Union. The Lightning ...

, 28–12. These were three of five times that a team outside of

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

has been the Western Champion of the RCSL; the other two times were by the

Calgary Mavericks The Calgary Mavericks are a Canadian rugby union team based in Calgary, Alberta. The team plays in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship and draws most of its players from the Calgary Rugby Union, one of fourteen Rugby Unions that have rep ...

in 2003 and 2008.

History

In 1998,

Rugby Canada Rugby Canada is the national 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 amateur Canadian football a ...

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

. 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