Club history
The Brighton & Hove Sea Serpents were formed on 4 November 2015 at a meeting at the Camelford Arms pub in Kemptown, Brighton, [1] to give gay and bisexual men the opportunity to play rugby in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Season 2015/2016
The Sea Serpents played their first match against the 4th XV of London's gay and inclusive rugby club, the Kings Cross Steelers, on 20 February 2016 at Hove Recreation Ground, losing by 25 points to 0. [2] Over the next two months during March and April 2016, the Sea Serpents played a return match in London against the Steelers' 4th XV, [3] an away match against the Birmingham Bulls, [4] and were admitted as members of International Gay Rugby (IGR. [5] )
Season 2016/2017
The Sea Serpents kicked off their second season in existence with a summer touch rugby tournament in Birmingham organised by the Birmingham Bulls - Touch My Brum 2016. [6] During the tournament the club registered their first ever win, a 2-1 victory against the Amsterdam Lowlanders. [7] The club continued to play friendly matches against other IGR teams, [8] [9] and local Sussex teams. The Sea Serpents registered their first win in a full XVs match on 21 January 2017 against the Reading Renegades, a 37-3 victory, including 7 tries, also witnessed by the Mayor of Brighton & Hove. [10] At the end-of-season Union Cup in Madrid, the Sea Serpents caused quite an upset by winning all of their group matches in the third-tier Union Bowl and making the Gold Final ahead of their closest rivals Kings Cross Steelers IV, the more established Bristol Bisons and Manchester Village Spartans III and the newly formed Munich Monks. They lost in the final to French side Rebelyons, finishing runners-up in their first international tournament. [11]
Season 2017/2018
Once again the Sea Serpents kicked off their season with a trip to the Birmingham Bulls touch rugby tournament finishing in the middle tier competition, a level above the previous year. The club was accepted into the Sussex Leagues and are competing in the Sussex Division 4 East against 9 other teams home and away. [12] Their first league match was on 9 September 2017 against Heathfield & Waldron III at Hove Recreation Ground, the visitors winning 58-12. Their first league win came at the end of the season on 28 April 2018 against East Grinstead III in a double header match with the Sea Serpents winning 33-31. [13]
Season 2018/2019
The Sea Serpents were moved to the West division of the Sussex League's Division 4. After registering three losses, they won their 4th match of the season away at Burgess Hill by 62-12. [14]
Falmer Stadium, known as the American Express Stadium for sponsorship purposes and more commonly referred to as the Amex, is a football stadium in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex. With a capacity of 31,876, it is the second largest stadium in South East England, after St. Mary's Stadium (Southampton), and the 31st largest stadium in the United Kingdom.
The County Cricket Ground, known for sponsorship reasons as The1st Central County Ground, is a cricket venue in Hove, in the city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The County Ground is the home of Sussex County Cricket Club, where most Sussex home matches since 1872 have been played, although many other grounds in Sussex have been used. Sussex CCC continue to play some of their games away from The County Ground, at either Arundel Castle or Horsham. It is one of the few county grounds to have deckchairs for spectators, in the Sussex CCC colours of blue and white, and was the first cricket ground to install permanent floodlights, for day/night cricket matches and the second ground to host a day/night match in England, in 1997.
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.
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The Sussex Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Sussex, England and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union.
London 2 South East is an English level 7 Rugby Union League. When this division began in 1987 it was known as London 3 South East, changing to its current name ahead of the 2009–10 season. The division is made up of teams predominantly from south-east London, Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex. The twelve teams play home and away matches from September through to April. Each year all clubs in the division also take part in the RFU Intermediate Cup - a level 7 national competition.
Regional 2 South East, previously known as London 1 South, is an English level 6 rugby union regional league for rugby clubs in London and the south-east of England including sides from East Sussex, south Essex, south Greater London, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and West Sussex. When this division began in 1987 it was known as London 2 South, changing to London 1 South ahead of the 2009–10 season. It used to be the feeder league for London & South East Premier into which the champion team each season was promoted whilst the second-placed team entered a play-off against the runner-up of London 1 North. Three teams were relegated into either London 2 South East and London 2 South West depending on their location. The league was renamed as Regional 2 South East for the 2022-23 season and moved from a 14 team, to a 12 team competition. The champion would be promoted to either Regional 1 South Central or Regional 1 South East depending on geographical location, whilst relegated sides would go to either Counties 1 Kent or Counties 1 Surrey/Sussex.
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Hove Rugby Club is an English community rugby union club, who play at Hove Recreation Ground in Shirley Drive Hove, and are affiliated to the English RFU via the Sussex RFU. They currently play in London 2 South East - a league a level 7 of the English rugby union system - following their relegation from London 1 South at the end of the 2018–19 season.
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Sport in Sussex forms an important part of the culture of Sussex. With a centuries-long tradition of sport, Sussex has played a key role in the early development of both cricket and stoolball. Cricket is recognised as having been formed in the Weald and Sussex CCC is England's oldest county cricket club. Slindon Cricket Club dominated the sport for a while in the 18th century. The cricket ground at Arundel Castle traditionally plays host to a Duchess of Norfolk's XI which plays the national test sides touring England. The sport of stoolball is also associated with Sussex, which has a claim to be where the sport originated and certainly where its revival took place in the early 20th century. Sussex is represented in the Premier League by Brighton & Hove Albion and in the Football League by Crawley Town. Brighton has been in the Premier League since 2017 and has been a League member since 1920, whereas Crawley was promoted to the League in 2011. Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. play in the FA Women's Super League from 2017. Sussex has had its own football association, since 1882 and its own football league, which has since expanded into Surrey, since 1920. In horse racing, Sussex is home to Goodwood, Fontwell Park, Brighton and Plumpton. The All England Jumping Course show jumping facility at Hickstead is situated 8 miles (13 km) north of Brighton and Hove.
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