Gay Rugby World Cup

[AlexH]

In no way does it stand as an impediment to change, I can't think of a good refutation for this point but sometimes nonsense is very hard to argue with.

Mate, it also difficult to argue with common sense which is the problem you're having.

Yes, yes, we are all very special, unique and different but lets, for a moment, set aside the hypersenstive, politically correct, new age crap and put things in perspective. You can be as different as you like but if you want to be treated and respected as an equal you should probably withhold from making a song and dance out of it. If, however, you want to make a three act play out of the fact you are different and all your problems then organize a march, throw a carnival or host aworld cup to celebrate that fact but do not be surprised when you are further ostricized and do not get what you set out to achieve in the first place.

Gay athletes deserve to be treated and respected like any other human being but at the end of the day there is right way of dealing with things and there is a wrong way. What I am saying is that throwing a world cup to celebrate homosexuality, or raise awareness of discrimnation towards homosexuals in sport , or whatever, is, at best, an exercise in futility and at worst a completely counter-productive exercise.

 

[matty_k]

AlexH I haven't a clue as to what you are trying to argue here.

Without making a song and dance (as you put it) out of issues that need to be addressed then quite often nothing seems to happen to correct the imbalance. Society on a whole will happily march on blissfully unaware that people are being treated unfairly.
Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Eddie Mabo and the ban on South Africa from playing international sport come to mind. I'm sure if I spent the time I could rustle up a few more examples.

And from what I can tell the folks running this thing aren't trying to make a song and dance out of their differences they are celebrating their inclusiveness by playing rugby.

 

[AlexH]

Its up to the rugby administrators, coaches and staff, at all levels of the game, to create an environment where players can feel comfortable no matter who they call god or what gives them a fat. It is up to them to talk about these issues with players in a very frank, no bullshit manner and try to create a culture of acceptance. It is up to them to set the standard in terms of behaviour and come down hard on players and supporters who are not willing to play ball. Awareness does not breed change, concrete policy and diligent enforcement does.

Matt,

This is what I am trying to argue would, "correct the inbalance", as you put it.

 

[Richo]

I think that saying "Don't celebrate difference" is often another way of saying "Don't talk about difference". Both do the same thing: they bundle difference over the sideline and out of mind. For the majority, at any rate. Sure, administrators and coaches and so on need to up their game in combating homophobia, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be addressed head on, in public and to the widest possible audience. Events like the IGRAB are only counter-productive if marching for civil rights in 1960s America was counter-productive or marching for reconciliation in Australia was counter-productive or any number of other collective responses to discrimination, official or otherwise. Think about the difference public awareness campaigns have made around mental illness in the last 20 years. Staying silent and hoping that somehow, some day, change will happen isn't a strategy -- it's staying silent. We all have the right to do that, but we don't have the right to tell other people they shouldn't speak out.

Besides, nothing I have read about this event suggests it is a publicity stunt or a demand for attention. It's something that grew out of friendship and sportsmanship. It's become something that people all over the world care about and want to be a part of. That, to me, is a fantastic thing. I hope it continues to grow, garner attention, and be a great experience for everyone involved.

 

[AlexH]

The American Civil Rights Movement and the issue of discrimination against homsexual athletes in Australia are in two completely different leagues. It is a bit of a stretch to compare a situation wherein a group of people were denied their most basic human rights to one where a couple of athletes have to put up with a bit of social stress.

Lets consider the contexts of the respective issues a little further. The civil rights of African Americans were not regarded as an issue by either the American public or the government at the time. On the other hand, most people in Australia are already aware that discrimination against people because of their race, religion or sexual orientation is, to a large extent, an issue and generally disapprove of the same.

Its not a matter of raising awarness of the issue. The awareness already exists. The people who are going get behind the cause through raised awareness are, for the most part, already on board. Pushing the issue further, in public realm, is just going to irritate people and damage the cause. Awareness campaigns in this matter are superfluous and are not going to change the attitude of the people who are still part of the problem. Its time for clubs, staff and leaders within playing groups to take the reins and address the issue through strictly policed policy and changing culture.

 

[AlexH]

In any case, pleanty of people seem to think awareness campaigns are necessary in this situation so I suppose I am just going to respect the fact that not everyone thinks like me. It would be boring if we all agreed.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

...snip...

By the way...
The Convicts have made the their Division Grand Final this weekend. I can highly recommend anyone getting out and supporting them at Maquarie Fields if you can.
My current club has has one team make the final in D2 - which unfortunatley means I'll be out at T.G Milner watching them.

Couldn't make it due to prior Jarse commitments. No score update on the Convicts website. Anyone know how they went in the Nicholson Cup GF?

 

[Braveheart81]

Couldn't make it due to prior Jarse commitments. No score update on the Convicts website. Anyone know how they went in the Nicholson Cup GF?

According to this, the Convicts won.

http://www.rugby.net.au/newsitem.asp?id=14993&orgID=7&Oname=NSWSRU&O1c=12&O10c=7

 

[mudskipper]

no straight arm penalties, just bent... ... more scrums seems to go with the theme here

 

[Hugh Jarse]

http://sydneyconvicts.org/binghamcup2014media/

We won the rights to host - Awesome.

Mark will be in Sydney August 2014.

 

[Richo]

no straight arm penalties, just bent. . more scrums seems to go with the theme here

Sexuality jokes are the height of humor and all, but couldn't you have held those gems back from the world just this time?

 

[Lior]

Lovely news they secured the event. Should show that Australian rugby is tolerant and full of diversity. Hopefully gets corporate backing as well.

 

[Bardon]

I think it's great that our sport can be used in such a positive way. Many sporting tournaments/teams arose throughout history as a response to the social problems of the time or in specific area. Sport has played a huge role in breaking down barriers over the years. So if sport and especially the one played in heaven can assist in break down another social barrier then that's amazing.

That aside to those who say there shouldn't be a need for such a tournament I would say that as long as there are people who want to play in it then there's a need for it. Who knows they may still be holding it 100 years from now when the origins of the tournament are mostly unknown to people.

We always talk about ways to grow the sport and how Rugby is for anyone no matter their shape or size. So I applaud the organisers for growing the Rugby family with these value in mind.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

It is just over a year to go before Mark appears in Sydney. Unless things have changed the Bingham Cup tournament will be held in Sydney in August 2014.

I liked this from the Students web site. They cop a fair bit of criticism for the way they do business from many of the punters in Gaggerland.

The Sydney University Football Club knows very well how passionate and proud the Sydney Convicts are when it comes to Rugby. Over the last few seasons the Sydney Convicts have taken on the Students for the Diversity Shield, an annual exhibition match designed to spread the word about tolerance in sport and life and help with the fight against homophobia in the community. SUFC is the first Premier Rugby Club anywhere in the world to become actively involved in such a cause. -

See more at: http://www.sydneyunirugby.com.au/_b...y_a_Celebration_for_all/#sthash.NQS7aVUQ.dpuf


The Diversity Shield sounds like a very good concept and initiative. Anyone have any details on the 2013 Diversity Shield match?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

I see a little snippet in The Fitz Files that ARU have made a place in their trophy cabinet for the Bingham Cup, alongside noting that the ARU have published their Inclusion (Equality) policy, apparently the only national body to do so thus far. Bravo ARU.

On the back of the ARU filling the open spaces of their trophy cabinet with a trophy won by the Sydney Convicts, I hope that this means that ARU will be putting plenty of resources behind the 2014 Bingham Cup Tournament as well as the Sydney Convicts (and the Melbourne Team) competing in the Tournament to keep the Cup in Australia.

If you are going to "claim" and display the trophy, then the least they can do is throw some decent resources to the blokes that won it.

 

[RugbyReg]

what "resources" are you expecting?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

My underlying assumption is that there was little or no ARU support made available to the Convicts to win the Trophy in the first place. It would be rather unusual for the ARU to subsidize a club team going to a world cup. Usually they have to do all their own fundraising. It just doesn't seem right for the ARU to display the trophy won by the Convicts, when they appear to have done little to help them win the thing.

Firstly if the ARU are going to bask in the glory of what the Sydney Convicts have achieved by winning the Mark Bingham Cup, then I would expect that ARU should make a fairly large cash grant to the Convicts, perhaps in the form of contra deals to make it easier for them to operate next year.

In terms of the Bingham Cup tournament, I'd hope that there will be a fair bit of logistic, marketing, and organizational support/resources from the ARU provided to make sure it is a resounding success.

On the back of that, I'd hope that there was some coaching and/or team preparation support given to all Australian based teams entering the tournament, not just the Convicts, to ensure that there is a good chance of the trophy remaining in Australia.

 

[Slim 293]

I know it's best to only post highlights of an article, but I feel that this kind of thing deserves the full treatment:

Game pride: Sydney Convicts pave way for ARU inclusion policy


As the powerbrokers of Australian rugby - Wallaby David Pocock, national coach Ewen McKenzie and ARU boss Bill Pulver - placed the Bingham Cup in a cabinet alongside the code's prized silverware, Sydney Convicts player Patrick Walsh wondered if the old timers were turning in their graves.

''There's two women's trophies there - and now there's going to be a gay rugby trophy,'' the halfback thought. ''They'd be thinking, 'Bloody women and poofs - what's the world coming to?' ''

The answer is that, by some measures, rugby is coming to a place of openness, backed widely in principle - and soon to be formalised - by the ARU's Inclusion Policy, which Pulver said would try to stamp out ''all forms of discrimination and homophobia from our game''.

''We want to make sure that any individual - whether they're players, supporters, coaches or administrators - feels safe, welcome and included, regardless of race, gender or sexuality,'' the chief executive said, before promising the ARU's ''full resources'' for the Bingham Cup tournament, otherwise known as the Gay Rugby World Cup, to be held in Australia next year.

As supportive as the ARU is, the fact there is a gay rugby movement at all may be symptomatic of the problem. And, Pocock believes, rugby is not alone in having plenty of work to do. Asked if Australian professional sport was now an environment in which a player could comfortably come out, Pocock said: ''You'd like to say it is, but if you look at the statistics, it clearly isn't. I don't know of anyone playing any of the contact football codes in Australia who's openly out. But statistically, there has to be some.''

No one has the right to tell an athlete to declare their sexuality, Pocock said. ''But I think it's up to the different codes to make their sport an inclusive environment, an environment where people feel they can be themselves and it won't be held against them.''

Walsh, who has played for the Convicts for three years, kept his sexuality quiet at his old club for fear it would be held against him.

The 48-year-old spent years at Oakhill Old Boys and played a club-record 298 games. He never discussed his sexuality because ''the question was never asked''.

But when a colleague who had recently stopped playing for the club said he was gay, Walsh was surprised by the response of some of his former teammates and glad he had not come out.


''The comments I heard were pretty shocking,'' he says. ''You stand there and listen to it and try to work out what's going on, whether some guys get in on it because they think it's funny or whatever. I just thought, 'Now I know what these guys are like.' ''
Walsh joined the Convicts, where it might be surprising to hear the environment is not all that different to his former club. ''I didn't say anything at my old club because you don't go to a rugby club to announce your sexuality, you go to play rugby,'' he says. ''It's the same at the Convicts. We have straight guys, gay guys - we don't really talk about sexuality.

If it's not an important topic, why have a club that identifies itself as gay? ''Because when you are being discriminated against, you can't feel part of a team,'' he says. ''When there are people talking behind your back, you're uncomfortable and not being treated equally. The thing about this team is that it doesn't matter what your sexuality is or how well you play - it's totally inclusive.''

Ultimately, therefore, genuine progress would mean no need for ''a gay team'', Walsh suggests. ''It's like the whole gay marriage thing,'' he says. ''In 20 years' time we'll look back and just go, 'Can you believe that even happened?' In 20 years' time gay rugby players will be totally accepted.''

Convicts founder Andrew Purchas echoed Walsh's sentiment. ''We didn't start the Sydney Convicts to make a political message or to change the world,'' he says. ''We started it only to provide people the opportunity to play the great game of rugby.''


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/game-pride-sydney-convicts-pave-way-for-aru-inclusion-policy-20131204-2yr38.html#ixzz2mVlJiCPf

 

[nomis]

Good stuff with the ARU being a model of a less fearful and more inclusive stance. They are signifying that they do not look down sexual orientation with ugly judgementalism.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

http://binghamcup.com/2014/04/05/major-sporting-codes-unite-to-support-diversity/

On Wednesday 9 April at 4pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time), Australia’s major sporting codes will unite to sign a historic anti homophobia policy that has been developed by Bingham Cup Sydney 2014.



On another note, The Convicts campaign has begum to retain the Bingham Cup. Any news of how the other Australian teams (Brissie Hustlers, Melbourne Chargers) preparations are going?