Curry Hitchborn Named Director of Rugby Development for Seattle Seawolves: Why This Sounds Like the Start of Pro Rugby in BC

We are proud to announce @CurryHitchborn as our Rugby Development Director! Get to know the newest team member: https://t.co/Sx4w74rS9Q pic.twitter.com/5gYpetuzMo — Seattle Seawolves (@SeawolvesRFC) September 20, 2017

This is probably one of the most exciting developments in BC and Canadian rugby in recent history, not specifically that Curry Hitchborn is becoming Director of Rugby Development for the Seattle Seawolves , even though that's great news. What's more exciting is what lies beneath the tip of the iceberg, some of it is explained below and some will come out in the near future, when we're allowed to share the information publicly.Curry is a skilled coach who has made his reputation in BC youth rugby, most recently with the U19 team and also as the forwards coach for UBC. UBC went from a competitive Div 1 side to repeat BC Premier champions in a few years under the direction of Curry and Rameses Langston. Both of them won the Gerald McGavin coaching award in separate years. Curry knows the name of every talented youth player in BC, if you doubt that just try to stump him with a name, it's unlikely you'll be successful. Curry will continue with his work in BC as forwards coach for UBC, Director of Youth Rugby at Capilano and Director of Rugby at North Star Rugby. This is where it gets interesting.North Star Rugby is a company that has emerged in recent years to develop rugby in Vancouver, they really emerged out of Capilano expertise as the principals are involved with the north shore club. They started an academy program with West Vancouver school board , forget doing just one school academy, they did an entire school district, they think big. Karl Harrison is the CEO and the businessman behind the company, bringing over 30 years of experience in the real estate, hospitality and travel sectors in both Europe and North America. He's well connected to the "movers and shakers" of professional rugby in Europe and North America. Brock Turner is a Vice-President at North Star and also on the board of the Vancouver Rugby Union. North Star Rugby is the Canadian company that has invested in the Seattle Seawolves. Now their Director of Rugby is the Director of Rugby Development for Seattle Seawolves of the MLR. Karl has made it clear he wants to bring a MLR franchise to BC in 2019. That's the real exciting part as the pieces start to fall into place and that vision looks very tanglible after today's announcement.There will be opportunities for Canadian players this coming season with Seattle Seawolves and then in 2019 when, hopefully, the BC franchise starts operation. It feels like the start of pro rugby in BC, that's why we're feeling the excitement. Wait until you hear the news we're not sharing yet, stay tuned!