Mark Bingham Cup

Mark Bingham Cup

THE BINGHAM CUP. AN INCREDIBLE LEGACY.
In July 2000, players from the Kings Cross Steelers, Manchester Village Spartans and newly formed, Washington Renegades compete at the London Gay Games. It was here that the three teams decided to create a new body to promote Gay and Inclusive Rugby and set about planning and establishing the new, ground-breaking, organisation.
In October 2000, three rugby union clubs for gay and bi men from the UK and USA establish the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) as a body to promote rugby union and encourage its development as an all-inclusive, non-discriminatory sport.
The 3 founding clubs were:
Kings Cross Steelers
Manchester Village Spartans
Washington Renegades
Manchester Village Spartans hosted an early 2nd Birthday Bash weekend and invited players from the Washington Renegades and a new team on the scene, the San Francisco Fog, to a rugby clinic and what became the worlds 1st Gay Rugby Union Tournament. Between 25-29th January, the Spartans hosted players in their own homes for this weekend of rugby and partying.
In a precursor to what would become the 'Gay Rugby Union World Cup', the Washington Renegades hosted an IGRAB International Invitational for gay rugby union teams at their home in Washington D.C.
Just a few months after the Washington Invitational, player Mark Bingham, died on board United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Eight teams traveled to San Francisco during gay pride weekend of June 28–29, 2002 to compete over two days with the Fog coming out on top as the Cup’s first winners.

The Fog A side emerged undefeated, beating the London Kings Cross Steelers 27-5 in the final.

Alice Hoagland, Mark Bingham’s mother, presented the Fog with the trophy whilst the tournament - sponsored by Nike and Guinness - was profiled in a two-page article in Rugby World magazine.

Hosted in London by the worlds oldest gay and inclusive rugby union club, The Kings Cross Steelers, twenty teams from four countries were fielded for the 2004 cup, won for the second time by San Francisco Fog RFC.
During the 2004 cup, a middle tier award, 'The Bingham Bowl' division was introduced and won by the Philadelphia Gryphons. This inaugural bowl was literally a bowl hurriedly taken out from the kitchen at Esher RFC in London.
Hosting of the third Bingham Cup was awarded to New York City's Gotham Knights RFC in October 2004 in a unanimous vote by the International Gay Rugby Association and Board and was held on Randall's Island in New York's East River on Memorial Day weekend, May 26–28, 2006. 29 teams from 22 clubs in 6 countries participated.

The tournament field was divided into 3 divisions, the Bingham Cup for the strongest teams, Bingham Bowl and Bingham Plate. 2006 also included the first ever Women's division, with 2 teams entering.

In March 2006, the Bingham Cup Organizing Committee announced that donations would be made to two charities: The Mark Kendall Bingham Leadership Fund, a scholarship established in Bingham's name at the University of California-Berkeley, his alma mater, and the Flight 93 Memorial Fund administered by the National Park Service to be constructed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Over 800 registered participants from 29 teams in nine countries took part in the largest Bingham Cup tournament to date.During the 2004 cup, a middle tier award, 'The Bingham Bowl' division was introduced and won by the Philadelphia Gryphons. This inaugural bowl was literally a bowl hurriedly taken out from the kitchen at Esher RFC in London.
On December 1, 2006, IGRAB announced the success of the bid of Emerald Warriors to host the 2008 competition in Dublin Ireland.
Other bidding cities included Sydney, Australia, and Paris, France. In addition, Las Vegas, Nevada, Seattle, Washington, Cardiff, Wales, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada also considered bidding to host the 2008 tournament.

The fourth Bingham cup was held in Dublin on the weekend of the 13–16 June, at Dublin City University campus.
32 teams competed across four divisions (the Cup, the Plate, the Bowl and the Shield).
The Sydney Convicts (A Team) took the cup back with them to Australia after winning the Cup competition for the second time in a row, this time defeating the Kings Cross Steelers (A Team) in the Cup final.
The IGR World Barbarians team, made up largely of the Nashville Grizzlies, beat the Sydney Convicts (B Team) in the Plate final. Belfast team, the Ulster Titans won the shield. The Atlanta Bucks defeated the Kings Cross Steelers (B Team) in the Bowl division, making them the only North American team to win a title in this year's tournament.
On January 21, 2009, IGRAB announced that the hosting rights for the 2010 Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament had been awarded to the Minneapolis Mayhem. The tournament was held at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota, June 17–20, 2010.[4]

The Cup returned to US soil as the 2006 tourney hosts, the Gotham Knights pulled an upset win over the reigning champions, the Sydney Convicts. The 2010 tournament introduced the Crest and Spoon divisions. The Phoenix Storm won the Crest after defeating the Gotham Knights B-Side in the final. The Bingham Spoon was claimed for the first time by the Seattle Quake B when they defeated the Ottawa Wolves in the final.

If you're viewing this on mobile, click here to view the latest Bingham Cup Instagram content below this timeline.
It was announced on September 29, 2010, that the Manchester Village Spartans RUFC, England, would host the 2012 Bingham Cup, beating the Sydney Convicts' bid by 6 votes.
Notably, Manchester's bid was actively supported by straight professional English rugby player Ben Cohen.
The 3 day tournament was held at Broughton Park RUFC, Manchester, June 1–3 and boasted the largest number of inclusive teams in the tournament's history - 37 from 12 countries and with more than 1300 players and supporters attending.

Sydney Convicts beat the San Francisco Fog 22 to 5 to win the trophy.

Manchester’s gay rugby team, the Village Spartans, achieved sixth place.

Alex Smith, chair of the Manchester 2012 Bingham Cup organising committee, said: “The Bingham Cup is all about one thing: proving the anyone, regardless of background, can grab a ball and run out onto a rugby pitch.
“The Manchester tournament achieved this in spades as we welcomed more players than any other Bingham Cup including teams from Lisbon in Portugal, Stockholm, Melbourne and Nashville, USA.”

If you're viewing this on mobile, click here to view the latest Bingham Cup Instagram content below this timeline.
In August 2014, the Sydney Convicts brought the Bingham Cup competition to the southern hemisphere.
Twenty-four teams traveled to New South Wales, Australia for three rainy days of competition at the home of the Woollahra Colleagues RFC.
The home-town Convicts ultimately won the Cup for the second consecutive tournament.

If you're viewing this on mobile, click here to view the latest Bingham Cup Instagram content below this timeline.
Hosting of the eighth Bingham Cup was awarded to Tennessee's Nashville Grizzlies, marking the first time the tournament would be held in the American South.
The tournament was held on Memorial Day weekend at Nashville's Ted Rhodes Park with players housed at Vanderbilt University.
Forty-five teams competed for tournament prizes in twelve divisions. The winners of the twelve divisions were as follows (in ascending order):
Challenger Julep - Chicago Dragons B
Challenger Cup - Dallas Lost Souls
Hoagland Spoon - Ottawa Wolves
Hoagland Vase - Kings Cross Steelers C
Hoagland Shield - Nashville Grizzlies A
Hoagland Bowl - Columbus Coyotes
Hoagland Cup - Caledonian Thebans
Hoagland Plate - San Diego Armada
Bingham Shield - Washington Renegades B
Bingham Bowl - IGR World Barbarians
Bingham Plate - Gotham Knights A
Bingham Cup - Melbourne Chargers A
In addition, the Nashville tournament hosted the inaugural Bingham Old Boys match & marked the first awarding of the Bingham Cane for the winning team.

If you're viewing this on mobile, click here to view the latest Bingham Cup Instagram content below this timeline.
The Amsterdam Lowlanders won the right to host the ninth biennial Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament - also known as the Bingham Cup.

The event took place in the Dutch capital in June 2018.

The Lowlanders' bid came first in a vote by all sixty IGR member clubs, despite facing strong competition from Edinburgh's Caledonian Thebans, London's Kings Cross Steelers and Toronto Muddy York.
This was the first time that the Bingham Cup was hosted in continental Europe.

After three days of rugby at Amstelveen Rugby Club, the Sydney Convicts A were crowned World Champions of Gay and Inclusive Rugby for the 5th time by winning the Bingham Cup, beating Gotham Knights in the final.

Their success was a double whammy, with the Sydney Convicts B also claiming the Bingham Shield.

This double silverware win was also claimed by the Birmingham Bulls, with their A and B sides claiming the Bingham Vase and Challenger Plate respectively.

2018 also saw the introduction of the Amanda Mark Cup, a new award for IGR Women's Rugby, which was claimed by the Amstelveen All Blues.

Here is a summary of all trophy winners at Bingham Cup 2018:
Bingham Cup - Sydney Convicts

Bingham Plate - San Diego Armada

Bingham Bowl - Washington Renegades A

Bingham Shield - Sydney Convicts B

Bingham Vase - Birmingham Bulls A

Bingham Spoon - Amsterdam Lowlanders

Bingham Cane (Old Boys) - New World

Hoagland Cup - Dallas Lost Souls

Hoagland Plate - Charlotte Royals

Hoagland Bowl - Caledonian Thebans

Hoagland Shield - Newcastle Ravens

Hoagland Vase - Les Gaillards

Hoagland Spoon - Lisbon Dark Horses

Challenger Cup - Armada Montreal

Challenger Plate - Birmingham Bulls B

Challenger Bowl - Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents

Challenger Shield - St Louis Crusaders

Challenger Spoon - Portland Lumberjacks

Amanda Mark Cup - All Blues (Women's Tournamnent)

Ben Cohen Sportsmanship Award - Washington Scandals

If you're viewing this on mobile, click here to view the latest Bingham Cup Instagram content below this timeline.
On October 4, 2018, IGR announced that the 2020 Bingham Cup was awarded to the Ottawa Wolves and that the tournament would be played in Ottawa, Canada.
Ottawa will be the first city in Canada to host the tournament, which was scheduled to be played August 8–17, 2020.

On March 28, 2020, IGR announced that the 2020 Bingham Cup was postponed until August 2022 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

To visit the Bingham Cup website click here .

If you're viewing this on mobile, click here to view the latest Bingham Cup Instagram content below this timeline.
Back in October 2018, the Ottawa Wolves Rugby Football Club (RFC) won the hosting rights for the 2020 Bingham Cup, one of the world’s largest amateur union rugby tournament. Due to the pandemic – the highly anticipated international tournament was postponed to 2022. In August 2021, the Ottawa Wolves RFC and the Bingham Cup Ottawa 2022 Organizing Committee were thrilled to announce that the tournament will now take place in Canada’s capital region with tournament activities now due to start on Saturday, August 13, 2022. Opening ceremonies will take place on Wednesday, August 17, 2022. The finals of tournament play and closing ceremonies will take place on Sunday, August 21, 2022. Information regarding all tournament activities including the official tournament schedule can be found at Binghamcup.com Read more

International Gay Rugby (Association & Board) – IGR (Registered Charity Number 1154241)
is a charity registered in England with a Registered office at:
71 Holland Road, West Ham, London, England E15 3BP, United Kingdom.
The Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament, or as it is more widely known, Bingham Cup, is the biennial world championship of gay and inclusive rugby, considered to be ‘The world cup of gay and inclusive rugby’.
This flagship IGR tournament was first held in 2002, in memory of 9/11 gay rugby hero, Mark Bingham, one of the passengers who fought back against hijackers on board United flight 93.
Mark’s club, San Francisco Fog, hosted the first back in 2002, which was attended by 8 teams.
Today, the event has grown to be the world’s largest amateur rugby tournament with 74 teams and hundreds of players competing and enjoying the most recent gathering in Amsterdam in 2018.
To view the Bingham Cup timeline click here .
Shortly after a handful of rugby union clubs for gay and bisexual men from the UK and USA had founded the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) in October 2000, The Washington Renegades held an informal, international, invitational tournament at their home in DC in May 2001.
Players from Manchester, London, Buenos Aires, L.A and San Francisco attended – one of whom was Mark Bingham, a former University of California, Berkeley rugby star, playing for San Francisco Fog.
The event was officially a Rugby sevens tournament amongst the existing IGRAB teams with the addition of exhibition rugby union or XVs matches.
In the exhibition match between the San Francisco Fog RFC and the Renegades, playing against each other for the first time, Mark’s team won 19-0. As a gay man and regular rugby player, Mark not only played for San Francisco Fog but also helped to set up Gotham Knights in New York City and was well known throughout the fledgling IGR community.
It was incredibly shocking that just three month’s following the invitational, Mark would loose his life in the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, onboard flight United 93.
In October 2001, following the 2001 invitational, the San Francisco Fog successfully lobbied IGRAB for the right to put on a XVs rugby tournament in San Francisco in June 2002.
The tournament was fashioned in the style of the Rugby World Cup , with both the tournament and cup prize named in honor of Mark following a unanimous decision by all the members of IGRAB.
Mark’s legacy sees rugby players, supporters and staff from around the world, coming together every two years in a celebration of equality, inclusivity and sportsmanship. 74 teams from 20 countries participated in the most recent Bingham Cup in Amsterdam in June 2018 with the current IGR World Champions being Sydney Convicts.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bingham Cup Ottawa 2020 has been postponed and will now take place in August 2022.
The bid process for the Bingham Cup 2024 will be announced by IGR in early 2022.
To scroll through the timeline, please click the left or right arrows below or click here to view additional content at bottom of this here .

Copyright © 2019-2022 Bingham Cup. All rights reserved.
Website and visuals created by Loogart .
Published on December 17, 2019 - 22:00
Published on December 16, 2019 - 22:00
Thank you for your interest in registering. At this time, all pre-sale and early-bird categories are sold out and we will be down for two days of maintenance. Registration will re-open after 8am EST December 18, 2019. See you then!
Published on December 15, 2019 - 19:00
Please visit this section again as we will be updating our website regularly.
The official Tournament draw will take place on August 13th, 2022 at 6pm.This page will be updated after the draw takes place.
Discover one of Canada’s most iconic sites and a must-see whenvisiting Ottawa. The historic, neo-Gothic Parliament Buildings stand tall on ahill overlooking the majestic Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa. Home to Canada’s federal government, this landmark is steeped in history and boasts beautiful gothic structures that will leave you in awe.
For those interested, you can take a tour of the Parliament of Canada. As members of the public, tickets are free but are offered on a first come, first serve basis. For more information on howand when to secure your ticket, please attend at the Capital Information Kiosk, located in front of Parliament Hill at 90 Wellingon Street, Ottawa Ontario. For more information, click on the following link: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/visitor-information/while-here.html
We have secured fields surrounding the University of Ottawa campus. We will be reaching out to teams closer to the tournament dates to book a 1 hour block for practice purposes. The bookings will be on a first-come, first-booked basis.
The IGR AGM and bid presentations for Bingham Cup 2024 will take place upon conclusion of the Summit on Trans Athletes.
Location: Fauteux Hall, University of Ottawa
Trans-athletes face unique challenges and are often over looked. The issue of the rights oft rans-athletes and their ability to participate in sports, at all levels, is a growing and pressing concern. In partnership with the Common Law faculty at the University of Ottawa, Égale, You Can Play, Rugby Ontario, BC Rugby, Monash University, University of Ste-Mary’s, UBC, the Bingham Cup Ottawa 2022 will deliver a conference that will address these issues and foster positive change.
Location: Fauteux Hall, University of Ottawa
Referee, player and coaching clinics geared specifically to improve skills and update everyone on critical law changes will take place during the morning of August 17 – with each category having their own dedicated programs and time slot
Location: Gee-Gees Field, Lees Campus, University of Ottawa
In memory of Mark Bingham, Bingham Cup 2022 will ensure the legacy of Mark Bingham and IGR values are celebrated, long after the tournament has left Ottawa.
A Canadian Maple Tree will be planted overlooking a newly upgraded pitch at Ken Steele park and a plaque will be unveiled, officially naming it, the Mark Bingham Field.
Location: Mark Bingham Field at Ken Steele Park, Ottawa, Ontario
The Captains’ Meeting will take place right after the clinics, with sufficient time for a lunch break before. This will enable all participants to be done will all administrative issues related to the tournament well ahead of the opening ceremonies.
The new all-tournament photograph session, which will consist of aseries of pictures of all tournament participants will take place on theUniversity Campus at 4:00pm This will provide the benefit of afternoonlight for best results, free-up the afternoon for most tournament attended andprovide plenty of time to get dinner and ready for the opening ceremonies.
Location: Gee-Gees Field, Lees Campus, University of Ottawa
For 2022 – we’ve changed the location for the Opening Ceremonies. Instead of the National Arts Centre (NAC), the Opening Ceremonies will take place at the National Art Gallery of Canada. A unique and award-winning architectural gem, the National Art Gallery offers breath taking views of Ottawa’s downtown core and Parliament Hill. Expect a truly world-class opening ceremonies, celebrating IGR& Canada’s history and values through a sound & light show, celebrating indigenous artists and the participation of the Captains of every side present, on the main stage!
Location: National Art Gallery (NAG)
Bingham Cup Tournament Day 1 Info coming soon.
Bingham Cup is proud to be partnering with the Canadian Wheelchair Sport Association to host for the first time ever at Bingham Cup, a Murderball (wheelchair rugby) exhibition game.
Bingham Cup Tournament Day 2 Info coming soon.
Bingham Cup Tournament Day 3 Info coming soon.
Bingham Cup Tournament Day 4 Info coming soon.
The Closing Ceremonies will take place at the historic TD Place at Lansdowne Park. Located on the southern edge of the Glebe neighbourhood in Ottawa, TD Place is Ottawa’s urban s
High Heel Gag
Slap The Pussy
Extreme Natural Breasts

Mark Bingham Cup

Report Page