In 2002 the Toronto Barbarians made its greatest contribution to its players, supporters and community by merging with Aurora RFC. ARFC in its fifth year as an entry in the Toronto Rugby Union is an exciting club with talented players and dedicated administrators. The Aurora club had its roots in York County RFC a tightly knit group of good athletes with a love of rugby and a strong social commitment. The members from both clubs recognized how the game and competition is developing in Ontario and have focused their interest on rugby excellence in a sociable community environment. The combined club is Aurora Barbarians RFC, drawing on strong traditions and the growing interest for rugby in York Region.

In 2002 Aurora Barbarians captured the Ontario Men's Under-18 championship and were finalists in the men's Under -16 competition. The club also featured a very competitive women's Under-19 team in addition to four senior men's side and two senior women's teams.

The future is very positive. Junior graduate Marc Di Girolamo, has been capped for Canada in 7s competition and has 9 caps as a National team player. Young rising stars like Ivan Baron, Jody Riggs, Oliver Atkinson and Shaun Allen are poised to drive the Club to the highest echelons of Ontario men's rugby. The women's section features national list players including Natalie Bendavid, Michele Pearlman and Carolyn Shaw. A reorganization of the Ontario senior rugby league sees our club now playing at the highest echelon of rugby in this province and improves our profile as a club of the future with a glorious past

The Aurora rugby club was formed in 1998,the original aurora club was named the Aurora York's and formed in 1961 by J.T.P.Brown a past pres of the Ontario Rugby Union, and member of the Ontario Rugby hall of Fame.

In 1967/68 the club moved to Newmarket and was renamed York County. After some very successful years under the watchful eye of Dan Monteith, they continued on to the through the 70's and 80's. In the 90's they were struggling to keep afloat and only due to a handful of players kept going until 1997 when Brian Lyall, a Prop from the Jed forest club in the heart of Scottish rugby the borders arrived. A former player coach for the Kingston Panthers,and Player for Balmy Beach and the Nomads, Retired from playing due to injury and decided to take up coaching full time.

Brian say's "I met a few of the players in the pub in Newmarket and they asked me to help them out. The first night I went to practice I noted how disorganized it was, not a lot of training aids to work with, but a good strong base of young players... except for Stu Hulbert!!! They were like sponges the first year, all willing to try new ideas and trainng methods. They went on to win the championship that year.

In 1998, Brian Lyall, Barry Williams, Jack Heald, Steve Marsland, Dave Downer, and Rob Germain sat together and discussed the move to Aurora to start fresh with new kit a new identity and the vision to be in T.R.U premier division in 5 years and to be a force in Ontario.

Although rugby had developed and thrived through the 1920s and 30s in Canada's heartland, the war years and post-war impact had undermined interest in the game. In 1949 rugby was resurrected in Ontario by a group of British expatriates who banded together to form the Toronto Wanderers RFC. In 1950, the group launched an intensive recruiting drive for players and pulling together a total of 80 would-be participants, set up three additional teams based in Toronto, the Barbarians, the Nomads and the Irish to compete in a six team league that also included the University of Toronto and a club from neighboring Brantford, Ontario.
The Barbarian group comprised gentlemen who would become long time stalwarts to the club and Ontario rugby including John Alliban, Shaun McQuillan, C.A. (Barge) Bains and original Club Captain, Tony Earl. Their efforts resulted in early success for the "Barbs", double winners of league and cup competitions in 1953, 1954 and 1956 as well as winners of the annual 7's competition in 1953, 1954 and 1957.

As the club completed its 10 year, the young heroes had matured and the club sagged, struggling to put out a full side each week. Dick Gaetor, a former player became involved as coach of the University of Toronto side which had earlier pulled itself out of the senior men's competition. Under Gaetor's influence a stream of graduates joined the ranks of the club including life members Bob Turner, Ian Dainty and George Tuck. From this base and with others joining through various contacts, the club was able to re-establish itself and was fielding two and sometimes three sides by the end of the 1960s. Confidence was running so high that in 1968, the Barbarians bought into Fletcher's Fields, the premier rugby facility in Canada, joining the Nomads, Scottish, Saracens, Irish Canadians and the Ontario Rugby Union as owners of the grounds.

As the club moved into the 1970s, it began to focus on the development of young local athletes as a source of new players. The establishment of an Under-19 program became the cornerstone of the clubs re-emergence as a rugby power. Leading the efforts was Nigel Toy, strongly supported by Roger Veale and Bob Lackie, all teachers at local high schools and all deeply committed to the development of young players. While early in the decade, the club had struggled to make its presence felt in the Senior B Division of the ORU, by 1979 eyebrows were starting to be raised.

In 1980 and 1981, the Barbarians took honors in the Ontario Magnificent 7s competition, North America's foremost 7-aside tournament, stamping its emphasis on strong back play and "open" rugby. An astonishing array of talented backs committed themselves to the club, anchored by junior graduate Ian MacMillan, and joined by an outstanding UK ex-pat Jim Moyes, both of whom played for Canada. A solid crop of forwards also took shape including legendary number 8, Peter Wilkinson. The Barbarians appeared in the McCormick Cup finals in 1984 with the second and third teams also playing in their respective divisional finals. In 1985 all repeated, this time with a fourth team as a finalist as well. However as the Barbs moved into the end of the decade, retirement of senior players and burn-out in the executive ranks undermined the performance of the club. After dropping from the Senior Division in 1990, the club played two years in the Toronto League Premiership. In 1992 under the leadership of player/coach Drew MacPherson, the club re-claimed a berth in the Senior B Division. The club has performed consistently near the top of this division in the years that have followed.

1995 also saw the formation of a women's side within the Barbs. The women thrived on the competition and in 1998 after only three years had taken a position in the Ontario Senior league and established a second team.
The 1990s also witnessed the commencement of Under 16 and Under-12 non-contact rugby, with the Barbs pioneering this early stage development in the Toronto region. Organized by long time senior veteran George Tuck and Women's Coordinator, Barb Dinardo, safe rugby for the very young promised to broaden the foundation of the club.

At the turn of the millenium, the club prepared to deal with new challenges. Club players have figured prominently with representative sides for both men and women. Practice sessions were moved to Fletcher's Fields, where the focus became one of creating a community base through support of local school and junior programs.