When the Markham Irish Canadian Rugby Football Club went searching for a new head coach to direct the fortunes of their men’s firsts team for the 2016 Ontario Rugby Union Marshall Division season, they didn't have to look far.

The team found a successor from Markham in Fabian Rayne.

Operating a popular Markham-based health and wellness company known as Fab Your Life Inc. since 2001, Rayne was known by a number of executives within the Markham Irish Canadian Rugby Football Club.

Just as important, he enters their program with some impressive credentials.

As a player, Rayne performed with the club as a youth before they merged with the Markham Rugby Football Club and at the national level as a member of Canada’s under-17 and under-19 clubs.

He also played running back with the University of Western Ontario football team and was a sixth-round selection of the B.C. Lions in the 2000 Canadian Football League’s Canadian player draft. His career included stops in Winnipeg and the Toronto Argonauts before being released in 2001, Rayne has been a coach at the junior provincial level and more recently with the Humber College Hawks men’s team.

During his time at Humber College, he directed the Hawks to four consecutive Ontario Colleges Athletic Association titles that began in 2011.

In taking over the helm of the Markham men’s firsts team, Rayne said he was elated when the club approached him.

After discussing it with his wife to make sure it would not interfere with their lifestyle, he gladly accepted their offer.

“I’ve been a long-standing member of the club since I was a teenager when they were known as the Irish and I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “I’ve been with the club since I was 14 and played for years and years and over the last few years I started coaching. For me it’s a natural progression.