International Gay Rugby Association and Board

International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) is the umbrella organization for the world's gay rugby clubs. It is dedicated to encouraging lesbians and gay men everywhere to play rugby. IGRAB is based in London, UK.

The Goals of IGRAB are to:

* Lobby for the inclusion of rugby in the Gay Games, and work with the Federation of Gay Games to foster rugby within the Games.
* Supervise a gay rugby world cup, known as the Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament or Bingham Cup for short.
* Encourage the creation of more lesbian and gay friendly teams

IGRAB seeks to ensure its activities and rugby generally are inclusive in nature. IGRAB will strive to ensure that no individual shall be excluded from participating in IGRAB or rugby on the basis of sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, political beliefs, athletic ability, age, physical challenge, mental challenge, or health status.

IGRAB constitutionally covers rugby union, rugby league, rugby sevens, quad (wheelchair) rugby, and touch rugby. Rugby union is by far the largest part of the IGRAB's focus.

The 2008-2010 IGRAB officers are Alex Fallis, Chairman (New York Gotham Knights); Andrew "Fuzz" Purchas, Vice-Chairman (Sydney Convicts); Michael Stebbins. Secretary (Washington Renegades) and Jonathan Fish, Treasurer (Manchester Village Spartans).

History

In 2002 a coordinating group of gay & bisexual rugby teams based around the globe got together to create IGRAB as the body to promote rugby as an all-inclusive non-discriminatory sport which everyone can play, regardless of sexuality. The formation of this body led to the inauguration of a new international rugby competition -- a gay rugby world's cup -- which in a unanimous decision by all the members of IGRAB became known as the Bingham Cup. Since then the Bingham Cup has been won by:

2002 - San Francisco Fog (tournament hosts)2004 - San Francisco Fog (tournament hosted by London Kings Cross Steelers)2006 - Sydney Convicts (tournament hosted by New York Gotham Knights)2008 - Sydney Convicts (tournament hosted by Dublin Emerald Warriors)

The site of the 2010 Bingham Cup will be chosen by IGRAB in the fall of 2008.

Member Clubs

Europe: NOP Amsterdam Rugby Club, Amsterdam, Netherlands : Bristol Bisons, Bristol, England, UK: Cardiff Lions, Cardiff, Wales, UK: Copenhagen Scrum, Copenhagen, Denmark : Ulster Titans RFC, Belfast, Northern Ireland : Emerald Warriors RFC, Dublin, Ireland : Caledonian Thebans RFC, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: La Melee Alpine, Grenoble, France: Kings Cross Steelers RFC, London, England, UK: Malmö Devilants, Malmö, Sweden: Newcastle Ravens, Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Village Spartans RUFC, Manchester, England, UK: Los Valents de Montpellier, Montpellier, France: Les Gaillards Parisiens, Paris, France

Australasia : Ponsonby Heroes Rugby, (currently inactive) Auckland, New Zealand : Brisbane Hustlers RUFC, (currently inactive) Brisbane, Australia : Sydney Convicts Rugby Club, Sydney, Australia

North America: Atlanta Bucks RFC, Atlanta, Georgia, United States: Austin Lonestars RFC, (currently inactive) Austin, Texas, United States: Boston Ironsides RFC, Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Charlotte Royals RFC, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States: Chicago Dragons RFC, Chicago, Illinois, United States: Cleveland Rovers RFC, Cleveland, Ohio, United States : Dallas Diablos RFC, Dallas, Texas, United States: Houston Roughnecks RFC, (currently inactive) Houston, Texas, United States: Los Angeles Rebellion RFC, Los Angeles, California, United States: Madison Minotaurs United RFC [http://www.MinotaursRugby.org] , Madison, Wisconsin, United States: Minneapolis Mayhem RFC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States: Nashville Grizzlies RFC [http://www.grizzliesrugby.org] , Nashville, Tennessee, United States: Gotham Knights RFC, New York City, United States: Philadelphia Gryphons RFC, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States: Phoenix Storm RFC, Phoenix, Arizona, United States: Portland Avalanche RFC, Portland, Oregon, United States: North Carolina Kodiaks RFC, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, United States: San Diego Armada RFC, San Diego, California, United States: San Francisco Fog RFC, San Francisco, California, United States: Seattle Quake RFC, Seattle, Washington, United States: Muddy York RFC, Toronto, Ontario, Canada : Vancouver Rogues RFC, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada : Washington Renegades RFC, Washington, DC, United States

South America: Buenos Aires Rugby, (currently inactive) Buenos Aires, Argentina

ee also

*2008 Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament
*Union Cup

External links

* [http://www.igrab.net/ IGRAB website]