YORKTON - Julie Foster is a Canadian rugby union player who participated in three World Cups (1998, 2002, and 2006) who was born in Winnipeg but spent her rugby career in Saskatchewan, is headed to this province’s Sports Hall of Fame.
“It was a surprise,” the 59-year-old told Yorkton This Week. “I’ve heard from friends before they were trying to get me, but I was surprised.”
That said Foster did note she was a Rugby Canada Hall of Fame inductee in 2019, so in the back of her mind was the idea “it would have to happen sometime in Saskatchewan.”
Still Foster will become the first individual rugby player inducted into the hall of fame when the Induction Dinner & Ceremony is held at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina on Saturday, Sept. 20.
Interestingly, Foster did not come to the sport of rugby at a young age.
“I started with ringette,” she said, adding ultimately that sport never made her happy, and she would evolve to play hockey, a sport she did excel at.
At the same time in her early teens rugby was suggested to Foster.
“I really didn’t know anything about it,” she said, adding the bit she knew was that it was a rough sport and she balked at the idea of playing.
Meanwhile, good things were happening on the hockey ice.
Foster would represent Hockey Canada in a two-game series against the United States in 1993.
A number of awards would follow including;
• 2000, CIS All Star Ice hockey honours, University of Regina
• 2001, Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award (ice hockey) recipient Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award
• Lady Isobel Stanley Gathorne-Hardy’s role as a pioneer of women’s ice hockey in Canada is acknowledged with the Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award. The award is presented by Hockey Canada to an active player (at any level) whose values, leadership and personal traits are representative of all female athletes.
“I love hockey . . . I still play a little bit,” said Foster.
But then Foster finally stepped on a rugby pitch with the Regina Breakers in 1991. That same year she represented Saskatchewan Rugby until 2012. In 2008, she was a founding member of the Regina Rage RFC. Foster also played on the Dog River Howlers and Prairie Fire Ultra Sevens invitational sides, according to Wikipedia.
From there Foster became part of Team Canada.
“I went all over the world with it (rugby),” said Foster, adding the people she met and friends she made were a huge part of the sport’s overall appeal.
Foster’s first cup was against New Zealand in 1996, though her most memorable game was at her first Canada cup in 1996 when she scored three tries, the three try effort still Foster’s best memory of a long rugby career.
In 2011, Foster was presented the Colette McAuley award (The Rugby Canada Foundation honoured McAuley’s contribution to the sport by founding an award in her name in 2009. The recipient represents the true spirit of the game and gives back to sport of rugby.
And now it’s the Sask Hall of Fame for Foster, something she said she is proud of as the first from her sport, something she said “is an honour in itself.”
