New York, Wednesday 21 January 2009 – The International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) announced today that its 2010 world championship tournament, the Bingham Cup, will take place at the National Sports Centre in Blaine, Minnesota. The Minneapolis Mayhem RFC won the rights to host the 2010 tournament, currently scheduled for 17-20 June 2010, in a vote held among IGRAB member clubs.

Member clubs indicated that the National Sports Centre location was one of the strongest aspects of the Minneapolis bid. The National Sports Centre, billed as the world’s largest amateur sports facility, has hosted the USA and Canadian national rugby teams and the USA national rugby championships. IGRAB members were also drawn by the temperate June weather in Minnesota, the many cultural offerings of the Twin Cities, and the region’s vibrant gay and lesbian community.

The Minneapolis bid effort was led by Mayhem RFC member Matty Strickler. "On behalf of the Minneapolis Mayhem,” Strickler said, “I am deeply honoured that we have been chosen to host the 2010 Bingham Cup. We look forward to hosting the IGRAB community and are very grateful to have this opportunity to pay tribute to Mark Bingham. With the support of the incredible GLBT and rugby communities in Minnesota we are confident that we will host an event that honours his memory and showcases the tenacity, determination and skill of IGRAB players and teams." “The Minneapolis Mayhem have put forth an outstanding proposal that focuses on providing a world class rugby experience for the players who will be travelling from across the world” added IGRAB Chairman Alex Fallis. “We’re very excited about going to Minnesota for the 2010 world championship.”

In a close vote, IGRAB members chose the Minneapolis bid over one from the Sin City Irish RFC of Las Vegas, Nevada. The Las Vegas proposal was unique in that the host club is comprised primarily of straight players.

“Despite not identifying as a ‘gay rugby club’, Sin City submitted an excellent bid to host the Bingham Cup. While the majority of members chose Minneapolis, the fact that a traditionally ‘straight’ club wanted to host our tournament speaks volumes about the growth and recognition of the Bingham Cup and gay rugby,” said Fallis.

For more information –
IGRAB, Minneapolis Mayhem, National Sports Centre, Sin City Irish

About IGRAB: 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. The Bingham Cup is a biannual international, non-professional, gay rugby union tournament, first held in 2002. The tournament was named after Mark Bingham, a former University of California, Berkeley rugby star. Bingham died in the September 11, 2001 attacks on board United Airlines Flight 93.

Owing to the large number of requests for copies of match footage from the Bingham Cup, Tony our video guru has decided to make a series of DVDs available. Each region free DVD contains all the footage shot for any single match. If your club wants a complete record of their Bingham Cup 2008 campaign that would mean 6/7 matches (DVDs) at €20 a piece.

To order contact Tony Bohan at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Arrival and check in information

Tournament particpants arriving in Dublin Airport are advised to take a taxi to DCU (Dublin City University). This is approximately 20 minutes from Dublin Airport and should cost about Euros 20. Dublin taxis are always on the meter (if not, then demand it), and take up to 4 passengers if they can fit all the luggage. Some larger minibus taxis are available.

The exact address for the accommodation block is Dublin City University, Ballymun Road entrance, Dublin 9.

When you arrive in DCU, you should go straight to DCU Accommodation to check in. It is a small campus so you should have no trouble finding the right building. Taxis can pull up at the door if they use the Ballymun Road entrance (side entrance). If they drop you off at the main entrance, it is a couple of minutes walk. A campus map is available here. Accommodation check in is beside the Swimming Pool on the map.

DCU will facilitate an early check in as best they can. If rooms are available, they will let you in. If not, they will gladly store your luggage until the rooms are available.

The sports grounds are approximately 15 minutes walk from the accommodation. Maps will be available to guide you. Practice fields are available next to the accommodation blocks.

Registration information:

Registration will take place in Old Bar at The Hub, next to DCU accommodation. Registration times are as follows:
Tuesday 10th June: 14:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 11th June: 14:00 - 19:00
Thursday 12th June: 10:00 - 18:30
Please be wearing your team jersey when you arrive for registration.

Medical information:

A comprehensive document detailing our medical services is available here.

The Bingham Cup is taking place from the 13th to the 15th of June inclusive in DCU Sports Grounds, Ballymun Road, Glasnevin. Matches begin at 10am and run until 6pm Friday and Sunday evening. Saturday matches begin at 9am and run through until 7pm.

Spectator entry to the Bingham Cup is free of charge.

A full match schedule will be published shortly.

The final lineup for the Pools are based on a combination of seeding and drawing based on the IGRAB BCLC guidelines.

John McWeeney, Paddy Power, Richie Whyte and Gordon d’Arcy

At the launch of the Paddy Power sponsorship of the Bingham Cup – the gay rugby world Cup in the Front Lounge on Tuesday evening were a number of high profile Leinster, ex- Leinster and Irish internationals and pundits including Gordon d’Arcy, Emmett Byrne, Liam Toland , John McWeeney, and Peter Coyle.

Paddy Power and Barry Murphy's 'Gerhardt'

MCing the event, Apres Match’s Barry Murphy as the German character ‘Gerhardt’ had the capacity crowd in stitches as he mercilessly ribbed the speeches from Paddy Power and Tournament Director Richie Whyte, who was later praised by Dorothy Collins of the IRFU Leinster Branch for securing the biggest international amateur rugby event in the world next year for Dublin.

Barry Joyce (Warriors Chairman) and Ciaran O'Sullivan (Warriors Captain)

Also present in great numbers were members of the host club, The Emerald Warriors including the reigning Mr Gay Ireland, Barry Meegan.