Rugby

San Francisco Wins First Bingham Cup

By Spencer Winders
For Outsports.com

Also:  Bingham Cup Photo Album

It was only fitting that the San Francisco Fog won the first Bingham Cup invitational rugby tournament for gay-friendly teams in San Francisco. The cup is named for Mark Kendall Bingham, the openly gay rugby player from the Fog who was killed Sept. aboard United Flight 93.

The tournament kicked off  under gray skies and a cold light rain, weather more appropriate to the sport's birthplace of Rugby, England. But as the competition heated up so too did the weather, breaking into stunning blue skies and a cool breeze that was to last the rest of the tournament. San Francisco Supervisor Mark Leno, who recently became the first openly gay man ever elected to the California Legislature, kicked things off with an official proclamation from City Hall declaring June 28th 2002 "San Francisco Fog Rugby Day." Which naturally led to the rumor that any team defeating the Fog was sure to finish up the weekend down at the county jail.

As Mark's mother Alice Hoglan cheered from the sidelines, the action started fast and furious, with the teams divided into two pools of four each. Pool A consisted of the Fog A side, the Manchester (England) Spartans, The New York City Gotham Knights, and the Seattle Quake. Pool B was Made up of the Fog B side, The London King's Cross Steelers, the Los Angeles Rebellion, and The Washington (D.C.) Renegades.

Friday provided a lot of great action, each team playing three matches. The English teams struck fear into the hearts of the Yanks from their first moment on the pitch, their aggressive and well-formed play a solid reminder of why the French got pasted at Agincourt. But cries of "This one's for the Queen, boys" proved superfluous in San Francisco, where it's always done for the queen, and the lads from the mother country failed to prove themselves invincible. In the two hardest-fought matches of the day they both went down to defeat; the Fog A side beat Manchester in a rough and tumble match, 15-12, and the Rebellion, playing for only their third time since forming as a club last December, came back from a scoreless first half and finished off London 14-8. The Fog A and the Rebellion ended the day undefeated, followed into the championship rounds by Manchester and London, with one loss apiece.

Saturday dawned a postcard day at the Polo Fields in justly famous Golden Gate Park, and by 9:30 the pitches were being churned up in two brutal matches as the Fog A side efficiently took down London, while Manchester and L.A. slugged it out in a close match that was won by one Spartan try, 5-0. This match resulted in the tournament's only red card, and both teams left the pitch bloody and bruised. London then got revenge on L.A. for Friday's loss by knocking them out of the double-elimination second round and thereby qualifying for the semifinals against Manchester. The two English teams duked it out in the blazing afternoon sun until London, showing incredible heart, beat their compatriots 10-5.

They then faced the only undefeated team of the tourney for the finals. The San Francisco Fog A side showed that they really were a team on a mission, cutting through the whole tournament with a graceful and well-practiced style of play. As their B side beat out the D.C. Renegades to take the consolation round, the Fog A came onto the pitch determined to honor and remember their fallen friend in a winning fashion. They came out strong, they came out revved up, they dominated the first half, and then held the Steelers to a 27-5 final.

That's when the fun really began. The 111 Minna Art Gallery in SoMa hosted what must have been their most riotous event ever, as 200-plus ruggers poured in and swamped the open bar. A traditional Kangaroo Court was held, and while all the details would not be fit to print, some of the highlights included a band of London Steelers entertaining the crowd with their "full monty", as well as Fog President Derrick Mickle doing a lovely rendition of Swan Lake in a tutu and little else.

We all shook off the fog inside our heads the next morning and rolled down to Beale Street to take our place in the biggest gay pride parade in the world. After Grand Marshal Sir Ian MacKellen kicked things off by waving a large British flag to a crowd estimated at 1 million, we made our way down Market Street, Mark Bingham's mom up on our shoulders, doing line-outs and passing drills for the crowd's entertainment, cheering and waving and standing up like Mark himself once did, to be counted. In the heart of any gay rugger, it just doesn't get more perfect then that.