Sid Roberts – Player
Sid started playing rugby at an early age for his home town club Rangiora, located south of Christchurch, NZ. There he played representative rugby at an early age, first for North Canterbury U-12s on the wing and later U-16s at the fly-half position before joining the army cadets in pursuit of more learning opportunities in life and rugby.
Following his army years, Sid spent time travelling throughout Australia and the United Kingdom mostly in search of rugby opportunities to further develop his skills. Life circumstances were to bring him to Winnipeg in 1991 where a chance reference to rugby in a local newspaper caught his eye and brought him to a tent at the Festival de Voyageur. Here he found something close to the game of rugby going on, but certainly not what he was use to. And so began a 30 year career in Manitoba that was storied and varied at many different levels that would ultimately take him to a date playing for Canada.
Sid was a special player who found success in many environments, displaying his passion for the game of rugby, the people associated with the game, the structure and culture of the sport. He was always looking for new ways to grow and learn and was interested in raising his level of play as well as others. Frustrated at times with the lack of provincial representative opportunities and a desire to increase the quality of play in the province, Sid saw a void that he would work to fix. Choosing 7’s rugby as the medium, he created the Buffalo 7’s Program, secured funding and internet searched tournament possibilities so that the Sr. Men could play quality rugby against high-level opponents. These efforts were to result in the team travelling to a number of tournaments including the Stampede 7’s in Calgary and to Chicago in 2008 where the team captured 1st place defeating the U.S. National 7’s Champion - Chicago Lions.
Sid played most of his career at the fly-half/stand-off position filling a role suited to his skill set and game analysis. From this position he controlled play either with his boot or through his hands, crafting attacks to opponents’ weaknesses or creating scoring opportunities to explore. During his 30 year career with the Winnipeg Wasps RFC, Sid played in sixteen 1st Division Provincial finals winning 10 1st Division Provincial Championships. He also played provincial representative rugby for nine years with the Tier II Buffalo and later with the Canada Super League Buffalo. Sid captained the 1997 Tier II Championship Team and earned a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the Canadian Rugby Super League. Following his MVP selection, Sid was invited to attend the Canada World Cup Training Squad in 1999, including a selection for a match with Canada vs. British Columbia. Later Sid was invited to play with Canada in the Dubai 7’s competition, and following this, was selected to play for Canada again in the Canada Classics (Old Boys) vs. USA Classics held in Saskatchewan.
A Certified Level 3 Coach, Sid’s passion for the game and desire to make a difference led him to help, coach or mentor other programs and clubs in the union. These programs were to include St. John’s Ravenscourt School, the MB U-17 and U-16 Boy’s, Provincial Sr. Men’s and Women’s, and clubs such as the Wasps, Wanderers, Saracens, Brumbies and the Wasps Women.
In all of these roles and environments, Sid displayed his characteristic desire and continual drive to raise the level of play and create positive changes. Emblematic of Sid’s ingenuity in the pursuit of new ideas to bring back to Winnipeg and improve the level of play, was his being granted permission on a visit home to attend four Canterbury Crusaders (NZ) training session practices where he was able to discuss game structure, patterns of play and tactics with Crusaders’ management.
From a Festival de Voyageur Snow 7’s tent to M.G.R.P. isn’t that far apart, but a lot of rugby was packed into almost 30 years. It sounds right for a Hall of Fame player.
Sid started playing rugby at an early age for his home town club Rangiora, located south of Christchurch, NZ. There he played representative rugby at an early age, first for North Canterbury U-12s on the wing and later U-16s at the fly-half position before joining the army cadets in pursuit of more learning opportunities in life and rugby.
Following his army years, Sid spent time travelling throughout Australia and the United Kingdom mostly in search of rugby opportunities to further develop his skills. Life circumstances were to bring him to Winnipeg in 1991 where a chance reference to rugby in a local newspaper caught his eye and brought him to a tent at the Festival de Voyageur. Here he found something close to the game of rugby going on, but certainly not what he was use to. And so began a 30 year career in Manitoba that was storied and varied at many different levels that would ultimately take him to a date playing for Canada.
Sid was a special player who found success in many environments, displaying his passion for the game of rugby, the people associated with the game, the structure and culture of the sport. He was always looking for new ways to grow and learn and was interested in raising his level of play as well as others. Frustrated at times with the lack of provincial representative opportunities and a desire to increase the quality of play in the province, Sid saw a void that he would work to fix. Choosing 7’s rugby as the medium, he created the Buffalo 7’s Program, secured funding and internet searched tournament possibilities so that the Sr. Men could play quality rugby against high-level opponents. These efforts were to result in the team travelling to a number of tournaments including the Stampede 7’s in Calgary and to Chicago in 2008 where the team captured 1st place defeating the U.S. National 7’s Champion - Chicago Lions.
Sid played most of his career at the fly-half/stand-off position filling a role suited to his skill set and game analysis. From this position he controlled play either with his boot or through his hands, crafting attacks to opponents’ weaknesses or creating scoring opportunities to explore. During his 30 year career with the Winnipeg Wasps RFC, Sid played in sixteen 1st Division Provincial finals winning 10 1st Division Provincial Championships. He also played provincial representative rugby for nine years with the Tier II Buffalo and later with the Canada Super League Buffalo. Sid captained the 1997 Tier II Championship Team and earned a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the Canadian Rugby Super League. Following his MVP selection, Sid was invited to attend the Canada World Cup Training Squad in 1999, including a selection for a match with Canada vs. British Columbia. Later Sid was invited to play with Canada in the Dubai 7’s competition, and following this, was selected to play for Canada again in the Canada Classics (Old Boys) vs. USA Classics held in Saskatchewan.
A Certified Level 3 Coach, Sid’s passion for the game and desire to make a difference led him to help, coach or mentor other programs and clubs in the union. These programs were to include St. John’s Ravenscourt School, the MB U-17 and U-16 Boy’s, Provincial Sr. Men’s and Women’s, and clubs such as the Wasps, Wanderers, Saracens, Brumbies and the Wasps Women.
In all of these roles and environments, Sid displayed his characteristic desire and continual drive to raise the level of play and create positive changes. Emblematic of Sid’s ingenuity in the pursuit of new ideas to bring back to Winnipeg and improve the level of play, was his being granted permission on a visit home to attend four Canterbury Crusaders (NZ) training session practices where he was able to discuss game structure, patterns of play and tactics with Crusaders’ management.
From a Festival de Voyageur Snow 7’s tent to M.G.R.P. isn’t that far apart, but a lot of rugby was packed into almost 30 years. It sounds right for a Hall of Fame player.