Nashville Grizzlies RFC (Rugby Football Club) is a men's

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

football club in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. The club was formed in 2006 to bring the sport to typically under-represented populations (specifically gay men) although it welcomes anyone interested in the sport. The club is made up of approximately 90 members (as of March, 2011) consisting of both active players, as well as non-playing Auxiliary members.

Competitions

Local

The club competes locally within Division III of the

MidSouth Rugby Football Union The MidSouth Rugby Football Union is the Local Area Union (LAU) for rugby union teams in Tennessee and portions of Arkansas under the True South Geographical Union of USA Rugby. The LAU also currently includes two teams located outside the core area ...

, a local area union within the

USA Rugby South USA Rugby South is an organization that combines a number of unions in the south-east of the USA for competition and representative honours. Their representative team is known as the Panthers. Originally formed as Southern Eastern Rugby Union in ...

territorial union, itself part of

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugb ...

National/International

The club is also a member club of the International Gay Rugby Association & Board (IGRAB), an umbrella organization for gay rugby clubs worldwide. As an IGRAB member, the club plays against other member clubs across the United States and internationally in one-on-one matches and in formal and informal tournaments. In October 2010, the club played in the Hellfest tournament, hosted by the Dallas Diablos RFC. The team placed fourth out of a field of eight teams. May 2011 saw the Grizzlies competing in the Chicago Dragons Midwest Invitational tournament, placing fourth of seven teams. The team placed third of six teams in Spring Fever IGRAB Invitational Tournament hosted by the St. Louis Crusaders in March 2012. The team has thrice competed in IGRAB's

Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament 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 ...

(aka, the Bingham Cup), the gay rugby union world cup. Club members playing as part of the World Barbarians side won the Plate Division at the 2008 tournament in Dublin, Ireland., standings The club traveled to Manchester, England for the 2012 Bingham Cup, placing 15th out of a field of 40+ teams. The Grizzlies were named the inaugural recipients of the Ben Cohen StandUp Award,Ben Cohen StandUp Award
Award plaque & trophy given "for outstanding team sportsmanship in the game of rugby" at the Manchester awards banquet. In 2014 the team submitted a bid and won the honor of hosting the Bingham Cup in 2016.

Social & Community Activities

Like most rugby clubs, the Nashville Grizzlies conduct and participate in a number of activities off the pitch. After each home match, the club holds a Third Half social which is open to the public and the opposing side. Club nights are held each month at one of several local bars as both social/recruiting functions and fundraisers. The club also holds an annual fun run and pub crawl (the Grizzlies Red Dress RampageGrizzlies Red Dress Rampage presented by Yazoo
official event websiteSeeing Red
Out & About Newspaper) which is a joint fundraiser for the team and for Nashville's

Belcourt Theatre The Belcourt Theatre is a nonprofit film center located in Nashville's Hillsboro Village district. History The theater was opened in 1925 as the Hillsboro Theatre by M.A. Lightman Sr. of Malco Theatres and his father Joseph Lightman. It was a ...

. The team also works with the Nashville chapter of

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a Ch ...

, and each year sponsors a roller disco party in support of

Nashville Pride Nashville Pride is a non-profit based in Nashville, Tennessee that produces a yearly LGBT Pride Festival. Its goal is to celebrate the existence and identity of the LGBT community and "connect people with the services and resources that they need ...

References

External links

* {{Gay Rugby Clubs International Gay Rugby member clubs Rugby union teams in the United States Rugby union teams in Tennessee LGBT sports organizations in the United States