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Brief History
The Toronto Saracens was established during the early 1950's. It was
the result of players branching outward from the Toronto Nomads and the
Toronto Barbarians due to an over abundance of players on those clubs during
that time. Back then, the rugby games were played at High Park, and after
the games they would visit the local establishments in and around the area.
It was here, in one of those establishments (not too sure which one), that
the Toronto Saracens Rugby Football Club was conceived.
How
did we get the name Saracens?. Well, we are not quite sure. According
to Dougie Kelly one of the older Saracens (SOB: Saracens Old Boy) on the
club, said someone picked it out of the blue, because all the other names
such as the Irish, Barabarian, Nomads etc. were taken. Initially they wanted
the Saracens to be called the Toronto Irish, because the original club
founders were of Irish descent, but the Toronto Irish of the Toronto Irish
had the name already. I am not 100% sure on the last statement.
Since the founding members of our club were Irish, they wanted green
somewhere on the jerseys. So they opted for the green and white hoops...
and hence our colours ever since. But you may be scratching your heads
at this moment as you look at the various teams on this page. Well, those
pictures are our "tour" jerseys and the club becomes more festive in their
colour schemes when we go on tour.
Over the years the Toronto Saracens were able to produce some Canadian Internationals. The most notable ones were Eric Kettleson (fullback, 1 cap) and Tony Stea (prop) for Canada. The Saracens have also recruited international players in the past to play for the club, namely Phil Crowe (prop, Australia) and Kevin Keyes (wing forward, Ireland B). We have also played host to some International players with their touring club teams, one to note was a young Jeremy Guscott when playing with the Bath touring team... (I personally do not remember this because I was a junior back then, but I am assured that this did take place). If anyone out there says different, let me know.
