The Emerald Warriors are an Irish

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

team based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. They play in the Leinster Metro League Division 10 and 7 and are members of the

International Gay Rugby Association and Board International Gay Rugby (IGR), 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 ...

. They are the reigning bronze final champions since Union Cup Madrid 2017. The Warriors are Ireland's first primarily

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

rugby team although it is open to anyone with an interest in playing rugby and includes heterosexual members.

History

Emerald Warriors RFC was formed in August 2003 by Richie Whyte to provide gay and

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

men the opportunity to play rugby in Ireland and internationally and to create links with similar teams and organisations in the UK, Europe and America. The team began playing in 2004 and took part in the

Bingham Cup 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 cras ...

, often referred to as the 'Gay World Cup' that year, representing Ireland. They competed again in 2006 and went on to host the event in 2008, in

Dublin City University Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) ( ga, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a university based on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin'' in 1975, it enrolled its f ...

's sports complex with endorsement from the

IRFU The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

. The event was deemed a success for rugby in general, for bringing gay rugby in Ireland to a new level of organisation and popularity by The

Gay and Lesbian Equality Network The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) was an Irish LGBT rights group based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1988 by Don Donnelly, Charles Kerrigan, Suzy Byrne, Kieran Rose and Christopher Robson. It focused on achieving change in le ...

(GLEN). They entered the Leinster Metro Junior league in 2007. They also competed in the

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. It is held every odd-numbered year. History Montpellier 2005 The first edition was held in May 2005 i ...

a biennial European, non-professional, gay rugby union tournament in London 2009, Amsterdam 2011 and Bristol 2013.

Achievements

*The Bingham Cup, Ottawa, 2022 – Bingham Plate winners. *The Union Cup, Madrid, 2017 – Bronze final winners. *The Hadrian Cup, Newcastle, 2017 – Overall winners. *The Union Cup, Newcastle, 2017 – Bronze Plate. *The Bingham Cup, Minneapolis 2010 - Bingham Shield. *The

, Copenhagen, 2007 – 7s Champions.

Crest and colours

The club colours are green, white and blue. The team crest is based on a traditional

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

shield with several

rugby ball A rugby ball is an elongated ellipsoidal ball used in both codes of rugby football. Its measurements and weight are specified by World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation, the governing bodies for both codes, rugby union and rugby ...

s forming a decorative floral pattern at the center of the crest.

Documentary film

The team was subject of a documentary film on

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

station

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

called ''Queering the Pitch'' which followed the Emerald Warriors, representing Ireland at the Bingham Cup in 2006. The documentary, which was directed by Tom Maguire, was also screened at GAZE: The Dublin International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in 2007.

Mention in court ruling

The club was mentioned in a 2009

Irish Supreme Court , image = Coat of arms of Ireland.svg , imagesize = 120px , alt = , caption = Coat of Arms of Ireland , image2 = Four Courts, Dublin 2014-09-13.jpg , imagesize2 = , alt2 ...

judgment on

Portmarnock Golf Club Portmarnock Golf Club is a links golf club in Portmarnock, County Dublin, Ireland, located close to Dublin Airport. The golf course is often rated as one of the top courses in the UK and Ireland and is also often included in lists of the top 10 ...

when ruling on equality legislation regarding whether the club could prohibit women from joining. It ruled there is no prohibition on the establishment of clubs or associations whose membership is limited to persons of a particular gender and made a specific reference to the Emerald Warriors recognising that rugby is not a "need" of gay men.

Other events

The Emerald Warriors hosted the Mark Bingham Memorial Cup in 2008 and will host the Union Cup in 2019. The team and its members have also taken part in events such as the

Dublin Pride The Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride Festival is an annual series of events which celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) life in Dublin, Ireland. It is the largest LGBTQ+ pride festival on the island of Ireland. The festival culmi ...

Parade and

Mr Gay Ireland Mr Gay Ireland is an annual contest for gay men, with regional heats held in gay venues around Ireland, with a grand final held in late October. In previous years the final has been held in The George, Dublin. The current title holder is Max Krz ...

, with club member Barry Meegan who was asked by his teammates to represent the club, winning the competition in 2007 and raising money for HIV and AIDS related charities based in Dublin in the process.

References

External links

*
Bingham Cup 2008 – SF Fog v Emerald Warriors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emerald Warriors Rfc Rugby union teams in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 2003 Rugby union clubs in Fingal International Gay Rugby member clubs LGBT culture in Ireland