Gareth Jones Day
Saturday’s doubleheader at St. Albert Rugby Football Club is also Gareth Jones Day in support of junior rugby.
Special jerseys have been designed for the occasion to be auctioned off to assist with scholarships and grants to SARFC juniors in Jones' memory.
The Godfather of St. Albert rugby died Dec. 31, 2017 at the age of 78.
Jones, one of the Nervous Nine founding members of SARFC and its first president, was inducted into the Alberta Rugby Hall of Fame in 2005 and two years ago joined Roger Scott as the first SARFC members in the Edmonton Rugby Union Hall of Fame.
Jones also coached Paul Kane High School’s first rugby team in 1980. The Gareth Jones Cup is awarded to the winners of the male and female Battle of St. Albert high school matches.
Saturday’s kickoff times for the SARFC men’s teams are 2 p.m. against the Fort McMurray Knights (8-1) in division two of the Edmonton Rugby Union and 4 p.m. against the Calgary Hornets (0-2, 3-4 overall) in round two of the Alberta Cup premier fixtures.
SARFC (4-5) is two points shy of making the division two playoffs with three matches remaining after Thursday’s 21-7 home-field loss to the Clan (5-5).
The opening match for SARFC (5-3 overall) in round two of the six-team Alberta Cup was Saturday’s humbling 69-12 loss to the host Calgary Rams (2-0, 6-1 overall).
Last year SARFC strangled the Rams 42-26 in the Labatt’s Cup provincial final at Calgary.
Western Games
The Western Canada Summer Games are underway in Swift Current, Sask., for the following athletes with St. Albert and Sturgeon County connections.
Athletics: Skyler York
Basketball, female: Maty Drefs, Dakota Wedman
Canoe/kayak: Evan Chaisson, Jeremie Bennett, Aidan Stock, Harris Swaleh, Jason Watamaniuk
Cycling: Christiane Bilodeau
Golf: Brooke Brezovski
Soccer: female – Grace Hannaford; male – Ali Blaybel, Emmanuel Kanu, Dieu-Merci Michel, Felix Mutuyemungu, Armaan Natt, Malik Sylvester, Ali Yildiz
Triathlon: Isabelle Poulin
Tennis: Gianna Oboniye
They are among 340 athletes representing 57 Alberta communities at the multi-sport competition for developing athletes that runs until Aug. 18.
Alberta is joined by Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut at the Games, which are held every four years.
