A heartfelt farewell from Langley Rugby Club coach John Marsden<\/p>\n
Published 6:00 pm Saturday, January 3, 2026<\/p>\n
In a heartfelt farewell, departing Langley Rugby Club coach John Marsden said he will be \u201cforever grateful\u201d to be part of the club.<\/p>\n
\u201dI will always have green and gold in my blood,\u201d said Marsden, who became the Langley women\u2019s coach in 2021, taking them to their first ever provincial final.<\/p>\n
\u201dMoving to a country where you don\u2019t know anyone and have never been can be a daunting experience,\u201d Marsden posted in a message to the club Facebook page on Dec. 3. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut Langley Rugby Club made sure that wasn\u2019t the case for me. I was given a home, surrounded by good people. The people of this club came to feel like family to me, and through some hard times, this club has been there for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one ever looks forward to calling time on their playing career, but the LRC gave me fresh purpose,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cCoaching here breathed new life into my rugby journey. The privilege and honour of being part of a club like this is something I will be forever grateful for and will never forget. So for now, I say goodbye \u2014 but hopefully not forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marsden told the Langley Advance Time he had to return to his native England when his temporary work permit could not be renewed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very frustrating place to be,\u201d Marsden commented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government [changed] the points system and structure in March, making it impossible for someone in my position or industry to achieve permanent residency, which had been [my] major goal and objective. [It] became very disheartening.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t expect to return, beyond brief visits.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved my time in Canada and fell in love with Langley but sadly I think I have drawn a line under it and decided my time in Canada has come to an end,\u201d Marsden said. \u201cI will be coming back for visits and a wedding or two. But I\u2019ll not be living and working there again.\u201d<\/p>\n
A club message posted online thanked Marsden \u201cfor everything you brought to our club \u2014 on and off the field. Your dedication, passion, and leadership have left a lasting impact on our community. You will always be part of the Langley Rugby family.\u201d<\/p>\n
An LRC profile noted Marsden, after taking the women\u2019s team to their first provincial final, helped grow the squad to 37 players of \u201call different ages, abilities, and backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2024 Marsden coached the U16 Langley girls in the fall season before deciding to return to the Langley senior women\u2019s program in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heartfelt farewell from Langley Rugby Club coach John Marsden Published 6:00 pm Saturday, January 3, 2026 In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-390424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}