Return of the Red River Rebels

The Red River Rebels are returning this fall.

Red River College Polytech put its varsity sports teams on pause in 2020 before officially pulling the plug in 2022 after 50-plus years of competition.

“Since then, there’s always been students coming to us asking when varsity athletics would come back, or if they ever would,” said RRC Polytech Students’ Association president Jasmine Lucero.

Everyone that’s been asking got the news they’ve been waiting for on Wednesday when it was announced that the Rebels will be rejoining the Manitoba Collegiate Association Conference for the 2026-27 season in men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball, and cross-country running.

The Students’ Association — which is a separate entity from the college — will be managing, operating and funding the teams.

“All the comments have been very, very positive. A lot of people are excited and pretty much saying, ‘Finally, they’re coming back,’” said Lucero.

“I know that there can be some concerns that varsity athletics only benefits the students that are on the team, but we believe it brings a whole community of students to come and watch. It brings back that atmosphere and a feeling of student belonging to campus and that’s something that’s been missing for a while. That’s why the Students’ Association believes bringing back varsity athletics is important and why we’re willing to put in the funds to have it back.”

It’s a huge boost to the MCAC and its current members. There are only three schools tipping off in the 2025-26 basketball season with Providence University College, Université de Saint-Boniface and Canadian Mennonite University. They have four teams for volleyball with Assiniboine College also participating.

“It’s tremendously exciting and great news,” said MCAC executive director Dawn Currie.

“When you’re playing the same teams over and over and over again just to try and get a league out of it, sometimes it may become — and this is just a personal thought — a little bit mundane. At the end of the day, while it’s a big win for the MCAC, I think the biggest winners are the athletes themselves.”

The Rebels were a powerhouse in basketball with the women winning six titles between 2012-17 and the men’s side capturing 11 championships in their final 12 seasons. Scott Kirkpatrick, a teacher at Maples Collegiate, led the men’s hoop squad to four of those in his five-year tenure.

“Based on the amount of former players who texted me about the announcement, it’s gotta be a big positive for Red River because there are a lot of former students that are really excited about this news and they’re not even there any more,” said Kirkpatrick.

“And I think it’s because many of the guys, that I happened to be lucky enough to coach, understood at some point that a lot of the things they did at Red River (academically) wouldn’t have happened without the sport being there.”

The Students’ Association had over a thousand students respond to a survey saying they want the Rebels back. From there, Lucero and her staff reached out to other colleges and polytechnics in the country that have their athletics funded by an students’ association to gather information. They then put together a proposal to the RRC Polytech board for approval and, once they got the thumbs up, they were able to apply back into the MCAC.

“It is a different situation, but we are very pleased the Students’ Association took it on as a priority and worked hard to get back into MCAC. It’s not a full win in that the Students’ Association has to cover everything, but at least the board right now provided them support to move forward,” said Currie.

The Students’ Association is not ruling out adding soccer and futsal — programs the school used to have — at some point down the road. But for now, they’re focused on recruiting coaches, volunteers and student athletes for the sports they’re offering in 2026-27. They’re also on the hunt for partner organizations that could help provide additional funding.

winnipegfreepress.com/taylorallen