Who are The Bays?
Early Lacrosse Team
circa 1917
We are Athletes
JBAA athletes have competed in baseball, basketball, rowing, track and field, boxing, tennis, lacrosse, and especially rugby. It all started with a baseball team playing out of a vacant fire hall in the early 1880s. From there, rowing and track and field took off. In 1895, JBAA won the first of six straight North Pacific Rowing Championships and two JBAA track and field members represented Canada at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games.
Most JBAA members answered their country’s call in WWI and WWII, with too many paying the ultimate sacrifice. Post WWII JBAA regrouped with a focus on rugby. Victoria is a Navy town and to this day, the home colour of JBAA rugby is Navy Blue, a tribute to Canada’s Pacific Fleet.
We are Champions
The pre-war habit of winning continued post-war. In the 1950s JBAA won eight Vancouver Island rugby championships. Between 1973 and 1982, led by BC Hall of Fame Coach Tillman Briggs, JBAA won eight provincial championships (seven in a row from ’74-’80), ten Vancouver Island championships, the Canada Club Championship and the Monterey tournament (1980). The Bays added six more BC titles by the turn of the 21st century.
Under the leadership of coach Pete Rushton, the Bays won a BC Championship “Three-Pete” in 2005-2008, a Canada Club Championship in 2007, then a “re-Pete” in 2013, and again in 2014. The Bays have won a record 25 BC Championships. The first division also won BC Championships in 2008/2009 and 2009/2010.
“The Bays have won a record 25 BC Championships”
“58 players who have worn JBAA navy blue have played for Canada”
We play for Our Country
Over the years, fifty-eight players who have worn JBAA Navy Blue have represented the Canada 7s and Canada 15s national teams.
Hans de Goede, Mark Cardinal, Winston Stanley, Patrick Dunkley, Bob Ross, DTH van der Merwe, and Phil Mack are those with the most caps. Bays who have represented Canada in recent times include Luke Campbell, Noah Baker and Cole Keith.
Tillman Briggs and Gary Johnston have coached the Canada 15s side, and Morgan Williams and Gary Johnston have coached the Canada 7s side. Jeff Williams is the current coach of the Canada U20 team.