With the likelihood of a varsity men’s football team returning to Carleton for the 2012 season, it’s time for the university to start thinking about what sport will make the jump to varsity status on the women’s side of things.
If all goes according to plan with the resurrection of the Ravens football program, it is a requirement that the university also adopt a women’s varsity team to ensure gender equality.
The question is: which women’s sport at Carleton will become the beneficiary of the school’s potential football squad?
In reality, it shouldn’t be a question at all.
Over the past four seasons, Carleton’s women’s rugby club has won the Eastern Ontario Rugby Union (EORU) fall league twice, in addition to finishing as finalists twice more.
Furthermore, they have proven that they can compete at the varsity level, having success against Bishops University, the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, Concordia University and McGill University.
Evidently, Carleton’s women’s rugby club is the clear choice to make the jump to the varsity level. This would allow the club to not only test themselves against stiffer competition, but also receive more funding and better facilities — thus allowing them to potentially improve their skills and playing environment even further.
Making the jump to varsity would help the team receive the credit and recognition they deserve. At the same time, it would only aid Carleton’s department of recreation and athletics in achieving their goal of establishing themselves as one of the elite sports schools in the country.
So perhaps the more appropriate question should be: why wouldn’t Carleton want the women’s rugby team to reach varsity status?