AUSTRALIA: GAY RUGBY - The "gay rugby World Cup" starts in Sydney with the endorsement of the International Rugby Board, the only gay sporting event in the world with the backing of an international professional sports federation

Record ID: 278169

  • Title: AUSTRALIA: GAY RUGBY - The "gay rugby World Cup" starts in Sydney with the endorsement of the International Rugby Board, the only gay sporting event in the world with the backing of an international professional sports federation
  • Date: 29th August 2014
  • Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (AUGUST 29, 2014) (REUTERS) MATCH IN PROGRESS - THE SYDNEY CONVICTS VERSUS THE MELBOURNE CHARGERS MATCH IN PROGRESS - THE AMSTERDAM LOWLANDERS VERSUS BOSTON IRONSIDES CHAIRMAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL GAY RUGBY ASSOCIATION, JEFF WILSON, TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE INTERNATIONAL GAY RUGBY ASSOCIATION, JEFF WILSON, SAYING: "It's
  • Embargoed: 13th September 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA9SX3PPBNEMTVDPFR39BWAKENX
  • Story Text: Bingham Cup organisers hailed the endorsement of the International Rugby Board (IRB) as an important breakthrough in inclusiveness in sport on Friday (Aug 29) as the seventh version of the "gay rugby World Cup" got underway.
    While the rugby is the heart and soul of the tournament for the 30 clubs from 15 countries who have gathered in Sydney this week, the event has been leveraged by organisers to shine a spotlight on the issue of homophobia in sport.
    The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) responded on Friday by becoming the first of the country's football codes to implement a policy of inclusion and anti-homophobia, while IRB chief executive Brett Gosper sent a letter of support.

    "It's really groundbreaking and important due to the fact that no other professional international sporting organisation has ever been so open about support for events related to their LGBT athletes. It's a real, true commitment to inclusion and elimination of homophobia at all levels of rugby. We hope to see that other organisers of sport follow the IRB's lead," Jeff Wilson, the chairman of the International Gay Rugby Association, told Reuters.
    While the first match took place in heavy rain on a sodden pitch outside, Australia's 1999 World Cup winning captain John Eales addressed the opening news conference inside the Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club.

    "We've always been very proud of our sport. We've been very proud that it's been a sport that by its very nature is an inclusive sport because it has a place for every shape and size of body. We needed to extend that and make sure it had a space for every type of person and no matter what their interests or what their background was, rugby was a sport where they felt they could come, they could actually belong," said Eales.
    Wilson said the work done by Bingham Cup president Andrew Purchas, a former team mate of Australia's 1991 World Cup winning captain Nick Farr-Jones at the Sydney University club, in raising awareness of homophobia in the lead-up to the tournament had "raised the bar" for organisers.
    The American, who would be in action later in the day for London's Kings Cross Steelers, said getting rid of homophobia would also benefit rugby by preventing talented youngsters from being lost to the sport.

    "We don't want any kid choosing to not be part of a team sport based on the fact that they don't feel like they are included because of their orientation or because they are different and by eliminating that unconscious bias that we might have and the active homophobic bullying that goes on, it makes rugby a better sport, it makes sport that much more important from a social change perspective," Wilson added.
    Also in Sydney, as local team the Sydney Convicts took on the Melbourne Chargers in an all-Australian grudge match on Friday morning, was Alice Hoagland, the mother of the former gay rugby player with the San Francisco Fog for whom the tournament was named, Mark Bingham.
    Bingham was killed in Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
    He is thought to have been among the handful of passengers who prevented the hijackers from reaching their suspected target.

    "The tragedy of September 11th is eased somewhat in my mind by the fact that I now have so many sons now who are wonderfully filled with the camaraderie and desirous of carrying the Bingham Cup forward. It's the icing on the cake that they have come to Sydney, which is a remarkably inclusive city, to show the world what it means when gay men and women can get together and play hard and come away victorious, or not, and are still able to tip a pint at the end of the game," Hoagland told Reuters.
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