Union Cup
The Union Cup is a biennial European, non-professional, gay rugby union tournament, bringing together teams and joint teams from all over Europe.
Tournament History
Montpellier 2005
The first edition was held in May 2005 in Montpellier, France. The participating teams were Les Artichauds, Manchester Village Spartans, London Steelers, Emerald Warriors RFC, Cardiff Lions, Los Valents Montpellier, Les Gaillard Parisiens, and the competition was won by Les Artichauds over the Manchester Village Spartans.
Copenhagen 2007
The second edition was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in May 2007; the XVs competition was won by the Kings Cross Steelers London, while the 7s tournament was won by the Emerald Warriors RFC Dublin over the Cardiff Lions with a 10-5 final score.
London 2009
The third edition was held in London in 2009, with visiting teams from Amsterdam, Bristol, Cardiff, Copenhagen, Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester, Montpellier, Newcastle, Paris and a Barbarians side; the XVs competition was won by the Kings Cross Steelers London in a hardly fought 3-0 match against the Manchester Village Spartans, the Xs tournament was won by the Cardiff Lions who beat the Kings Cross Steelers Xs team 29-7 in the final, and the 7s tournament was won by the Bristol Bisons RFC in a 12-7 final against Les Coqs Festifs Paris.
Amsterdam 2011
The fourth edition was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, hosted by the Amsterdam Lowlanders in June 2011 with visiting teams from Amsterdam, Bristol, Brussels, Dublin, Edinburgh, London, Lisbon, Lyon, Manchester, Montpellier and Paris. The XVs competition was won by the Kings Cross Steelers I London, over the Manchester Village Spartans and the Emerald Warriors RFC Dublin, while the Xs competition was won by the Los Valents Montpellier, over the Bristol Bisons RFC and the Kings Cross Steelers II.
A video was created by the students of a local art university,[1] and generally the competition found good coverage on the media, both on TV[2][3] and on newspapers.[4][5]
Bristol 2013
In July 2011, Bristol Bisons RFC were successful in their bid for the 2013 Union Cup over the Emerald Warriors RFC from Dublin, Ireland.
19 squads took part from 17 different teams. In the 10's tournament Birmingham Bulls, Dublin Emerald Warriors RFC 2nds , Lisbon Dark Horses, Montpellier Los Valents, Paris Coq Festifs. 15's teams, Amsterdam Lowlanders, Berlin Bruisers, Bristol Bisons RFC, Bruxelles Straffe Ketten, Cardiff Lions, Edinburgh Thebans, Dublin Emerald Warriors RFC 1st, London Kings Cross Steelers 1st XV, London Kings Cross Steelers 2nd XV, Lyon Les Rebelyons, Manchester Village Spartans, Newcastle Ravens, Northampton Outlaws RFC, Stockholm Berserkers.
The Kings Cross Steelers won the Union Cup for the fourth time with a win over Dublin Emerald Warriors RFC
With 500+ participants from all over Europe this is the largest Union Cup thus far.
Brussels 2015
In April 2013, 3 teams / cities expressed bids for the Union Cup 2015 tournament. Caledonian Thebans From Edinburgh, Straffe Ketten From Brussels, Los Valents de Montpellier RFC From Montpellier. At 11.15pm BST, on the 25th of May 2013, it was announced in Bristol's "The Vault" venue, that Brussels - Straffe Ketten was the chosen city - club to host the Union Cup 2015. The will be the first time the Union Cup has been staged in Belgium. Up to 1000 players, fans and officials will travel to Brussels in May 2015 for the competition.
References
- ↑ "Union Cup 2011 Official presentation video".
- ↑ "Amstelveen TV News".
- ↑ "RTV N-H Nederland national TV sport news".
- ↑ "Homo-rugbyteam tackelt net zo hard" [Homosexual rugby team tackles just as hard]. AT5 Nieuws (in Dutch) (Amsterdam). June 3, 2011. Retrieved May 13, 2012.
Het bestaat al een paar jaar, maar voor het eerst wordt het dit weekend hier georganiseerd: een internationaal rugbytoernooi voor alleen maar homo's (It has existed for a few years, but organized here for the first time this weekend: an international rugy tournament only for homosexuals)
- ↑ "Newham Recorder News - UK".