Talk:Ringette in Canada

Split from article "Ringette"

Attempted to split the "Ringette in Canada" section of the Ringette article. Don't know if this new article needs approval from wiki admins or not, probably does somehow. Don't know how long it will take. Think I did this right, but not sure. After the split, I removed a lot of content from the ringette article which was no longer necessary because it had been copied to this one (this should help make that article a bit smaller). Hopefully can get to "Ringette in Finland" next and do that split next if this split is successful. Seems the "Ringette" article did lose quite a few good sources from the recent purge at that page due to bloat and other related issues, but think I recovered a good amount that won't overwhelm this one, plus there are bots are already doing their work recovering them.

This article, "Ringette in Canada", doesn't have to be tagged as a stub. CheckersBoard (talk) 15:33, 21 June 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles may not be copied or translated without attribution

Unfortunately I'm going to have to remove the new history section due to complications regarding attribution and copying within wikipedia. Unfortunately I don't even know who the original author is/was and the information came from the Ringette article:

Great, I screwed that up. It's on its own talk page now. Oh well, it's there. CheckersBoard (talk) 08:58, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

History

The sport's history began in Canada in 1963.

Birth

The birth of the sport began in Northern Ontario in 1963 and was led by Sam Jacks, ringette's concept developer and founder from North Bay, Ontario, and its co-inventor, Mirl "Red" McCarthy from Espanola, Ontario. The Northern Ontario Recreation Directors Association (NORDA) was responsible for the new sport's early development.

NORDA was a regional organization composed of members from a vast area that included Deep River, Elliot Lake, Espanola, Huntsville, North Bay, Onaping Falls, Sturgeon Falls (now West Nipissing), Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury (now Greater Sudbury), and Phelps Township (just outside North Bay) in Ontario, and Témiscaming in Quebec. The body recognized the problem of limited girls' winter recreational programs and decided to find a solution.

The sport was first introduced at the NORDA meetings held on January 20 and 21, 1963 in Sudbury, Ontario. Sam Jacks advised the group that "he had been working on a new girls' court game". Evidently, he first considered an inside floor game for females, believed to have been based on his previous success with floor hockey.

At their September 15 and 16, 1963 meeting at North Bay's Royal Canadian Airforce base, Sam Jacks informed the group that he would "like to have NORDA receive credit as a body for the birth of this game." Each one of the sports directors left this meeting agreeing to develop the game in their own community and report their findings at the next NORDA meeting in early 1964.

Experimental phase

The birth of the sport ultimately began at the Espanola Arena in the fall of 1963. Under the guidance of Mirl "Red" McCarthy, the very first game was held between Espanola high school girls who had been playing ice hockey during high school gym classes. McCarthy wrote up a set of rules and created a ring for this occasion. This original ring can now be found on display inside the Espanola arena.

In 1963–1964, the original ringette rules become experimental in several Northern Ontario and Quebec communities:  

• Espanola, Ontario arena

• Onaping, Ontario playground

• Sudbury, Ontario Kingsway Playground

• Sudbury Grace Playground

• Sudbury Adamsdale Playground

• Sudbury Barrydowne Playground

• Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

• Témiscaming, Quebec arena

Mirl "Red" McCarthy presented a written list of rules which he had developed, combined with comments and observations, to NORDA at their meeting at Moose Lake Lodge in Onaping, Ontario, on January 19 and 20, 1964.

During the 1965–65 season, the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) published the first set of official rules for ringette. The copyright to the official ringette rules were transferred to the Ontario Ringette Association in 1973 and then were acquired by Ringette Canada in 1983.

Introductory phase

Following the first draft of ringette's rules, the sport began its introductory phase to a number of different cities on communities. In Quebec, ringette was introduced to the Town of Témiscaming by Bob Reid, director of recreation for Témiscaming, secretary and chairman of NORDA.

In 1964–1965, Sudbury, Ontario formed the first ever ringette league, comprising four teams. Diana Heit, assistant program director of Sudbury Parks and Recreation department, helped the teams with schedules, rules and coaching.

In contrast to the sport's growth in other communities, the growth of ringette came slowly to North Bay, Ontario, where the sport's intitial conceptualization began. Ringette was introduced in North Bay, on January 21, 1965 at the Kiwanis Playground with teams from Kiwanis and Police zones participating. The game ended in a 5–5 overtime tie. Attempts were then made to form a four team league. It was not until 1971–72 that West Ferris, now part of North Bay, had a four-team league operating.

On March 5, 1966, the first invitational tournament, called the "Northern Ontario and Quebec championships", was held in Témiscaming, Quebec. The tournament took place with five teams participating: North Bay Police playground, Sudbury Rose Marie Playground, Sudbury East End playground, Temiscaming Reds, and Temiscaming Whites. The tournament was won by the Temiscaming Reds team. This historic tournament created many firsts for the game of ringette:

1. The first ever ringette tournament

2. The first interprovincial tournament

3. The first tournament in Quebec

4. The first tournament for the Canadian and World Championship.

5. The first indoor tournament.

6. The first tournament on artificial ice.

7. The first crests ever created and awarded for the sport.[2]

Further development

By 1965–66, NORDA decided that they had carried the sport about as far as it could go. The Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO) was chosen to develop and organize it further on a larger scale. By 1973, an agreement was worked out between SDMRO and the Ontario Ringette Association (ORA) where the copyright to the Official Ringette Rules would be held by ORA.

A steering committee involving representatives from a number of different Canadian provinces was organized in 1974 and later in November of that year, Ringette Canada was founded as a result of their efforts. Almost ten years later in 1983, Ringette Canada acquired the copyright to the "Official Ringette Rules" which had previously belonged to the Ontario Ringette Association (now called Ringette Ontario). The rights originally belonged to the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario (SDMRO), whose President had been Sam Jacks when the rules were first developed by NORDA in the early 1960s.

Legacy

Since Sam Jack's passing away in May 1975, his wife Agnes Jacks promoted the game over the years until her passing in April 2005 and earned the title of "Ringette Ambassador". Her work earned her many awards and wide recognition not only in Canada but in Europe, and the United States, as well as other international ringette communities.

Ringette is now played in countries such as Finland, Sweden, United States, Czech Republic and Russia, with the largest community in Canada, with over 50,000 participants. CheckersBoard (talk) 08:56, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

The above information was copied to this article without attribution and had to be removed as a result. CheckersBoard (talk) 08:59, 8 September 2022 (UTC)

References