LIAM MIDDLETON CONTRACT TO NOT BE RENEWED FOLLOWING REVIEW OF NATIONAL MEN’S SEVENS PROGRAM
Rugby Canada – Rugby Canada to begin search for new National Men’s Sevens Head Coach immediately
LANGFORD, BC – Rugby Canada’s General Manager of Rugby Operations and Performance, Jim Dixon announced today that Rugby Canada will not be renewing the contract of Liam Middleton.
Today’s announcement comes after an extensive review of the National Men’s Sevens Program (NSM 7s) – which Middleton has been the Head Coach of since September of 2014 – following a fifth place finish at the last-chance repechage qualifier in Monaco for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“On behalf of everyone at Rugby Canada, I would like to thank Liam for his service to the organization. Liam has given his all as Head Coach of our Men’s Sevens program and we thank him for his dedication to achieve success. The program has made positive progress in a number of areas under his leadership,” said Dixon from Langford, BC.
In the interim, Rugby Canada’s current staff will maintain preparations for the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, including re-centralization in August at the Canadian Rugby Centre of Excellence.
“The future success of this program is reliant on continuing the culture of excellence, commitment and discipline established by Liam. I am 100% confident the program staff, and most importantly the players, will respond to this challenge. The NSM 7s program will recommence in August with the existing program staff overseeing preseason. Our objective is to have a new Head Coach in place by October 1st,” added Dixon.
“There are some outstanding people in the Rugby Canada Men’s Sevens program, who are genuine world class deliverers in their respective fields and I wish them well and look forward to watching their progress,” said Liam Middleton following today’s announcement.
“Rugby Canada will conduct a global search for a permanent head coach immediately. It is expected there will be plenty of interest in fulfilling this important role and the necessary time will be taken to find the right candidate,” said Allen Vansen, CEO of Rugby Canada.
“We appreciate all that Liam has given our Program over the past 22 months and wish both him and his family the very best moving forward,” added Vansen.
2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series:
Dubai Sevens – December 2-3, 2016
Cape Town Sevens – December 10-11, 2016
Wellington Sevens – January 28-29, 2017
Sydney Sevens – February 4-5, 2017
Las Vegas Sevens – March 3-5, 2017
Canada Sevens – March 11-12, 2017
Hong Kong Sevens – April 7-9, 2017
Singapore Sevens – April 15-16, 2017
Paris Sevens – May 13-14, 2017
London Sevens – May 20-21, 2017
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Media Enquiries:
Bryan Kelly
Manager, Media Relations and Communications
Rugby Canada
250-216-5272
Media Conference Call Details:
Who: Rugby Canada GM of Rugby Operations and Performance, Jim Dixon
When: Wednesday, July 13th at 11am EST/8am PST
Where: 1-888-350-3035 – Conference Room #5289320
About Rugby Canada
Rugby Canada is the national governing body of the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Football has a long history in Canada dating back to its initial appearance in the 1860s. Since 1974, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on the global rugby scene, including trips to each of the eight Men’s Rugby World Cups and seven Women’s Rugby World Cups. As a regular on the Men’s and Women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings and challenge the dominant rugby nations in both versions of the game.
To support the growth of rugby at the grass-roots level and to ensure there are elite programs for prospering young rugby players to become involved with, Rugby Canada has put an emphasis on developing its junior programs. Our goal is to develop and train competitive teams for the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Tokyo, Japan respectively, the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland, 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in USA and 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.
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Bryan Kelly I Manager, Communications and Media Relations I Rugby Canada I 3024 Glen Lake Road I Langford, British Columbia, Canada V9B 4B4 I Tel. 250.418.8998 ext. 314 I Fax 250.386.3810 I Cell. 250.216.5272 | bkelly@rugbycanada.ca I www.rugbycanada.ca