SCENE + HEARD: Forget World Cup—New York's Gay Rugby Squad, the Gotham Knights, Take the Bingham Cup!

(The Gotham Knights at Boxers. Photo by Jeff Kagan)

“The last few seconds of the game, we were just counting down.  There were four minutes left on the clock.  We knew that we were up 18-15.  Then the Convicts had a chance to tie the game with a 3-point kick, but he missed!  The whistle blew!  The guys were jumping up and down on the field!”  says Jose Rogel, #2 Hooker (yes, you heard us right) for the Gotham Knights Rugby Football Club of the final seconds of the game that earned the team to their first Bingham Cup win since the inception of this biannual event. The tournament was named after Mark Bingham, an openly gay former UC Berkeley rugby player who died in the September 11 attacks.  About eight teams meet every two years to compete for gay rugby’s most prized possession.

Both the Knights' A and B teams were on hand to celebrate at new queer sports bar Boxers, whose co-owner Chris Negado is also a Knights team member.  He spoke proudly of his team’s accomplishment. “We count Mark Bingham as one of our own.  So finally for it to be our turn to hold the cup named after him, it means a lot to us," he told us. "Everyone you see here that has played, gave blood, sweat and tears for our club.”

We bumped into hunky Joseph Hunt, captain of the A side. Originally from London, Hunt found the Gotham Knights through their website and after meeting the group, he was so impressed he decided to stick around. “Its got to be the best social dynamic I’ve ever been involved with," he gushed. "I love New York City and those two combined have inspired me to stay and play full-time.”  the lamentably straight Hunt grabbed the microphone and said some inspirational words to his teammates, before leading them in a heartfelt toast that saw 25 glasses raised high in victory.

Some of the familiar faces of the Gotham Knights were on hand enjoying the spoils of victory including team president Yacov Braunstein, head coach Pos Kyriacou assistant coach Paul Heslop, Gotham Knights founder Scott Glaessgen, scrum half Joe Rice  and Metropolitan New York Rugby Football Union's Toby Butterfield  and Renee Ovrut.Throughout the night, the actual Bingham Cup (a two-foot-tall engraved silver chalice) was passed around from player to player, and each took a hearty swig from it.  As one player commented, “That’s the taste of winning.” —Jeff Kagan
 

Jeff Kagan writes The Score, a sports column appearing every third issue of the month in Next Magazine. He is also on  the Board of Directors of the NYC Gay Hockey Association, the NYC Gay Basketball League, Team New York, and Out of Bounds NYC.