The Sydney Convicts have won both men’s divisions at the Bingham Cup – the world championships of LGBT rugby – in Amsterdam.
A record 72 teams and about 2,500 players competed in the ninth edition of the tournament, which included a women’s trophy for the first time, won by locals the Amsterdam Lowlanders. The Sydney Convicts took out the Bingham Cup for the fifth time, and the Bingham Shield for the third time.
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Convicts president Don Rose said he could not be prouder of his team’s legacy.
“Both victories are a testament to the preparation and hard work of the club leading up to the tournament,” he said. “We are very proud that for the fourth time in a row the Bingham Cup is coming back to Australia, which shows the strength of the southern hemisphere in rugby union.”
Lachlan McGregor was part of the Convicts’ winning team, with his parents travelling to Europe to cheer him on. McGregor had dropped out of rugby just before he came out as gay, believing his team-mates would be “uncomfortable” with his sexuality. Now, at 29 and a regular with the Convicts, the cup is McGregor’s reward for having returned to the sport he loves.
“I’m so unbelievably happy right now,” he said from Amsterdam. “I’ve been wanting this for years and winning it with my parents watching was the icing on the cake.”
After winning the tournament, the Sydney-based club announced that its players and staff had raised $27,000 in conjunction with the Woollahra Colleagues to fund research aimed at finding effective programs to eliminate homophobia in sport.
The research program is supported by Rugby Australia and Victoria, and will be carried out as part of the Sport Inclusion Project at Monash University – where lead researcher Erik Denison and his team will test the effects of anti-homophobic education programs delivered by six professional rugby players to teenage teams.
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Denison said such research was critical, given homophobia and transphobia in sport remains a significant social problem.
“Many of the competitors at the Bingham Cup have left mainstream sport and have joined gay and inclusive rugby teams because they felt unwelcome and unsafe to play sport. This is why research to find a solution to this discrimination is so important. There has been lots of research on the problem of homophobia in sport, but none focused on finding effective solutions.
“Homophobia in sport will not end on its own, which is why we need effective, proven programs to make sport more welcoming and safe for LGBT people.”