Boston Ironsides Rugby Football Club is a rugby union football club based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Ironsides play in the New England Rugby Football Union as a Division 4 Men's Team; retaining around 40-60 members (players and supporters) each season.
The Boston Ironsides are affiliated with World Rugby, based in Dublin, Ireland. They are sanctioned by USA Rugby, the governing body for the sport of rugby in the United States. Their geographical union is NERFU, the New England Rugby Football Union. The Ironsides represent Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire as New England's only competitive and fully accredited member of the International Gay Rugby Association and Board, or IGRAB, headquartered in London, England. IGRAB is an organization that promotes rugby as an inclusive, non--discriminatory sport which everyone can play, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, political beliefs, athletic ability, age, physical challenge, mental challenge, or health status. IGRAB organizes the biennial Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament, popularly known as the Bingham Cup, the Rugby World Cup for gay and gay-friendly teams.
The Bingham Cup is named for Mark Bingham, an openly gay rugger and one of the heroes who gave their lives to thwart the terrorist hijackers of United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Since then, the exponential rise of IGRAB in the United States has made rugby the nation's fastest-growing sport in recent years. As one of the original members of IGRAB the Ironsides are proud to be a part of this legacy.
Members
The members of the Boston Ironsides come from diverse backgrounds. Straight, gay, lifelong athletes, newcomers to the sport; accountants, engineers, bartenders, designers, educators, students, physicians and more. Many are native New Englanders, while some come from different parts of the country, and still others hail from all over the world—Canada, Europe, South America, Australia.
History
Players of the team in 2006
At the height of American patriotism following the attacks on 9/11, members of New York's Gotham Knights arrived in Boston to begin laying the initial groundwork and recruiting players for a Boston-based gay-friendly rugby club. On July 28, 2002 the Boston Ironsides RFC (Rugby Football Club) was formed. The Ironsides grew rapidly and became competitive in their division. This momentum culminated in May 2006, when the Ironsides won the inaugural Bingham Bowl at the Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Championship.
Following a period of inactivity after this achievement, the team began a renewed recruitment effort in early 2010. A dynamic coaching staff and the dedication of key team leaders have revitalized the Ironsides with an energy that can be seen on the pitch. In June 2012 the Ironsides shut out opponents on the first day of competition at the VI Bingham Cup in Manchester, United Kingdom and quickly became known as a force to be reckoned with in amateur rugby union.
The Ironsides sent several players to the 2014 Bingham cup, and were the first team to register.
In 2016, the Ironsides went to Nashville to compete in their Bingham Cup.
2018 took the Ironsides to Amsterdam for their Bingham Cup.
In fall of 2019, the Ironsides grew to over 60 members and were able to field two separate teams on the same day. With one team competing in D4 NERFU Competition against Rutland Rugby Club, and the other competing in a friendly against the South Shore Anchors Old Boys.
In 2020, the Ironsides were scheduled to compete at the Ottawa Bingham Cup, but due to COVID-19, the tournament, and the season as a whole was cancelled. No rugby competitions were played this year.
In 2021, the Ironsides continued onward with the Spring season cancelled due to COVID-19 once again. The team continues its efforts off the field in social engagement and philanthropy while they wait to resume play.
In 2022, the Ironsides headed to Ottawa to compete in the rescheduled Bingham Cup.
In 2023, the Ironsides, as well as a mixed team with the Village Lions, took 2nd in the Inaugural NORAM Cup.
Press
The Boston Ironsides have been featured in several newspapers over the years.
Rugby Canada is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Canada was incorporated in 1974, and stems from the Canadian Rugby Football Union, a body established in 1884 that now governs amateur Canadian football as Football Canada; and the now-defunct Rugby Union of Canada, established in 1929. Rugby Canada administers the Canada national rugby union team and sanctions the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship, a national competition for under-20 men's teams. It previously sanctioned the Super League as the premier level of men's competition in the country, but scrapped that league after the Americas Rugby Championship was created in 2009 as a two-stage competition in which the first involved only Canadian teams.
Football Canada is the governing body for gridiron football in Canada headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Football Canada focuses primarily its own Canadian form of the sport, and is currently the world's only national governing body for Canadian football.
The Gotham Knights Rugby Football Club is a division III men's club in the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union. Their home pitch is on Randalls Island in Manhattan. The team finished fourth in the 2012 Bingham Cup, an international gay rugby tournament, coming off a 2010 win in Minneapolis.
The Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament or the Bingham Cup is a biennial international, non-professional, gay rugby union tournament, first held in 2002. It is named after Mark Bingham, who died on board United Airlines Flight 93 when it crashed during the September 11, 2001 attacks. The most recent tournament was held in Rome, Italy, in May 2024 and was won by French team Les Gaillards.
San Francisco Fog Rugby Football Club (RFC), also known as "The Fog", is a rugby union football club in San Francisco, California. It is the first such team in the western United States established specifically to actively reach out to traditionally under-represented groups in rugby, such as people of color, gay men, and women. It welcomes players who do not fit into those categories. The club has over 100 members.
Boston Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Weymouth, Massachusetts, US. The club competes in, and is governed by, the New England Rugby Football Union, the Northeast Rugby Union, and USA Rugby.
The Washington Renegades are a Division III and Division IV rugby union club based in Washington D.C. Established on October 24, 1998, by Mark Hertzog.
The Cardiff Lions RFC is a gay and inclusive rugby union football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club was founded in 2004 and is the first of two gay and inclusive rugby clubs in Wales. The Lions were admitted as members of the International Gay Rugby Association and Board in 2006.
The Kings Cross Steelers are a British rugby team, based in London. Founded in 1995 it was the world's first gay-inclusive rugby union club. Its founding sparked the beginning of a much larger gay-inclusive rugby movement which to date includes over 60 clubs across the world.
Newcastle Ravens Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team located in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The current Chairman : Chris Buckton.
Charles River Rugby Football Club, nicknamed The Rats, is an American rugby union club based in Boston which currently competes in New England Rugby Football Union. Charles River has also a women's section.
The Providence Rugby Football Club (PRFC), established in 1969, is a rugby union club located in Providence, Rhode Island. It includes both men's and women's teams, with the women's team known as PWRFC. The PRFC men's team competes in Division III within the New England Rugby Football Union (NERFU). PWRFC competes in the Division I within NERFU in 2023-2024.
The Emerald Warriors are an Irish rugby team based in Dublin. They play in the Leinster Metro League Division 10 and 7 and are members of the International Gay Rugby Association and Board. They are the reigning bronze final champions since Union Cup Madrid 2017. The Warriors are Ireland's first primarily gay rugby team although it is open to anyone with an interest in playing rugby and includes heterosexual members.
The Ottawa Wolves are a rugby union football club for men and women in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The men's side of the club is predominantly made up of gay men, but both sides of the team are inclusive of anyone who wishes to join regardless of sexual orientation.
International Gay Rugby (IGR), founded in 2000, formerly known as the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB), is the umbrella organisation for the world's gay and inclusive rugby clubs. Based in London, UK, IGR is recognised by World Rugby as the representative organisation of the LGBT and inclusive rugby community, up to the point they both have signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining a commitment between the two organisations to work together to educate and eliminate homophobia in rugby.
The Northeastern University Rugby Football Club is a college rugby union team representing Northeastern University. The club competes in the Liberty Conference of Division 1-A Rugby and is governed by USA Rugby.
Nashville Grizzlies RFC is a men's rugby union football club in Nashville, Tennessee. The club was formed in 2006 to bring the sport to typically under-represented populations although it welcomes anyone interested in the sport. The club is made up of approximately 90 members consisting of both active players, as well as non-playing Auxiliary members.
Bristol Bisons RFC is an inclusive English rugby union club based in Bristol. Founded in 2005 as the south west’s first inclusive rugby team, the Bisons have welcomed players of all abilities, backgrounds and sexualities from Bristol, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and the surrounding areas since that time.
The Old Gold Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The club competes in, and is governed by, the New England Rugby Football Union, the Northeast Rugby Union, and USA Rugby. The team currently fields sides in Division II and Division IV in NERFU.
The Manchester Village Spartans RUFC is Manchester's gay and inclusive rugby union football team based at Sale Sports Club, Manchester.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
