Surrey rugby club raises more than $17,000 for cancer research

The Surrey Beavers Athletic Association raised more than $17,000 for cancer research in October through its Ruck for the Cure fundraiser. The 11th annual event began with a match at Sullivan Heights Park, then moved to the rugby club’s Cloverdale clubhouse, the Beaver Lodge.

John Eadie called the event “outstanding” and thanked the opposing team for taking part in an event important to the Surrey Beavers rugby community. He said it is the club’s biggest event of the year and one of its busiest. Members come together to support the wider community, and he said it was remarkable to see the whole club contribute. Eadie handles much of the annual organizing, including ordering jerseys and securing sponsorships; a different business sponsors each jersey. He said cancer has affected everyone and hoped the funds raised and the work they support would eventually ease people’s hardship.

This year’s fundraiser opened with a game against Vancouver’s Scribes RFC. After the match, the jerseys were taken to a laundromat, washed and returned to the Beaver Lodge for an auction. All auction proceeds went to the Canadian Cancer Society. The club also held a silent auction. In total, it raised $17,605 that night.

Club president Lance Mathers said the annual event means a great deal to the club and to him personally. Cancer has affected the club considerably, he said, adding that one of their good friends, whom they had played with, died a few weeks ago.

Club member Walter van Halst said he was proud of the Surrey Beavers and what they had achieved. He called Ruck for the Cure “powerful and meaningful,” and said it mattered more than anything else the rugby club does. The fundraiser supports something bigger than sport, he said: cancer affects everyone. He has had cancer in his family, and many club members have lost a friend, co-worker or relative. He said he did not know anyone who had not been affected.

van Halst said a “dear friend,” Byron Ramsay, recently died. They had been friends since they were both 18. Now much older, van Halst said he had been close with Ramsay and his family and thought of him often. He also said another club member lost his adult daughter to cancer in August this year.

Those losses have shaken the club, van Halst said, but its members remain resilient and determined to raise money to help people and support the search for a cure. Over the years, the Beavers have raised more than $187,000 for cancer research through the Canadian Cancer Society.

To contribute to the Surrey Beavers Athletic Association’s October fundraiser, visit fundraisemyway.cancer.ca (https://fundraisemyway.cancer.ca/campaigns/Surrey-Beavers-Athletic-Association-2026-Fundraiser) and search for “John Eadie” (https://fundraisemyway.cancer.ca/campaigns/Surrey-Beavers-Athletic-Association-2026-Fundraiser). More information about Ruck for the Cure and the Surrey Beavers Athletic Association is available at beaversrugby.com (https://www.beaversrugby.com/).