The Niagara Lightning (formerly Niagara Thunder) are a Canadian rugby union team based in southern Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. The team plays in the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship

Rugby Canada National Junior Championship

The Rugby Canada National Junior Championship is a new amateur rugby union competition in Canada. The league was created when Rugby Canada decided to disband the Rugby Canada Super League and replace it with a new under-20 league. The league consists of 13 teams, and are broken up into 4...

 and draws most of its players from the Niagara Rugby Union.

The Lightning play their "home" games in Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

 (Mohawk Sports Park

Mohawk Sports Park

Mohawk Sports Park, is a large park on the east mountain of Hamilton, Ontario, 1100 Mohawk Road East, with a number of sporting facilities including Bernie Arbour Memorial Stadium and the Mohawk 4 Ice Centre, . Also known as Commonwealth Park and Upper King's Forest Park....

) and nearby Burlington

Burlington, Ontario

Burlington , is a city located in Halton Region at the western end of Lake Ontario. Burlington is part of the Greater Toronto Area, and is also included in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. Physically, Burlington lies between the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment...

, Oakville

Oakville, Ontario

Oakville is a town in Halton Region, on Lake Ontario in Southern Ontario, Canada, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. As of the 2006 census the population was 165,613.-History:In 1793, Dundas Street was surveyed for a military road...

 (Crusader Park), and Brantford

Brantford, Ontario

Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...

.

History

In 1998, Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada, is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of...

 and the provincial unions agreed to form the Rugby Canada Super League. Fourteen unions and sub-unions were invited to compete in the new semi-professional league. However, the NRU

NRU

NRU may refer to:* National Reform Union , the formal name for the Reform Union, a minor, yet significant pressure group within the United Kingdom that demanded a secret ballot, extension of the franchise and equal sized constituencies in relation to the democratic process...

 (along with the Toronto Rugby Union and the Eastern Ontario Rugby Union) decided not to participate. Both Toronto and Eastern Ontario joined the league the following year, leaving Niagara as the only invited union not to join.

The Niagara Rugby Union finally decided to field a team in time for the 2004 RCSL season. The new club was named the Niagara Thunder.