Rugby Ontario honoured the Rugby Ontario Hall of Fame class of 2017 this past weekend at a Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner. The ceremony – in conjunction with the Rugby Ontario Awards evening – was held at the Maple Banquet Hall in Mississauga, Ontario.
Honored by the Rugby Ontario Hall of Fame Selection Committee as the fifteenth group of inductees were Barb Relton Di Nardo, Bob Barrow, Steve Gray, Pearse Higgins, Kyle Nichols, Bill Stuart and Balmy Beach 1st XV 1980-81.
Di Nardo is a former Gael and founded the Queen's women's rugby program at the University in the early 1990's paving the way for the success that the sport has seen in Canada at the University level. The Di Nardo name is a familiar one as Barb's daughter
Jordi Di Nardo is a current member of the Queen's team that finished with an OUA Silver medal this Fall.
Barb Di Nardo
·Started playing the game in 1989 with the Toronto Saracens
·Started the Queens University program in the fall of 1991 with 150 girls at tryouts in the first two years
·Helped establish the process that would result in women's rugby becoming an OUA and very quickly a CIS sport
·Started the first women's rugby team in Saudi Arabia while living there between 1993-96
·Was a coach, player and administrator with Gaye McPherson in the Toronto Barbarian women's founding year in 1996
·Served on the RO Board of Directors leading junior development in the 1990's and helped organize the early incarnations of minis rugby in the province
·Through her work at Newtonbrook Secondary School starting in 2009 she helped establish the early foundations of the TIRF program
·Barb has been a fundraiser, coach, recruiter and mentor helping grow the TIRF program and advocating for these young people from our priority neighbors
·Barb has been a strong advocate for players across the city introducing them to rep level coaches and selectors
·Barb is in her 8th season coaching Newtonbrook girls in both Fall 7s and Spring 15s
·She has been a leader in delivering Rookie Rugby training to hundreds of teachers, volunteers and student coaches to help expand the rugby footprint in the city
·Barb has shaped countless young women's lives with her approach to coaching and mentoring – best exemplified by her 2016-17 Newtonbrook SS (TIRF) girls winning the OFSAA Sportsmanship award
·Barb started the first minis program in Toronto in 2006 which became the Toronto Saracens minis
·Barb worked with Dave Williams on the Saracen/Scottish minis rugby collaboration in 2009-10 which resulted in the founding of Toronto City Youth Rugby Club in 2012 where she continues to be an executive
