March 11-17, 2004

naked city

Scrum as You Are

Men in motion: The Philadelphia Gryphons practice on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Philadelphia's first gay rugby team is headed for the big game.

by Debra Auspitz

Casey Ryan, president of the Philadelphia Gryphons, swears the rough-and-tumble game of rugby is all-inclusive. "You can be the pudgy kid who can’t run and play rugby -- anyone can play rugby. There’s a position for everyone."

Until the team was founded one year ago, that statement wasn't necessarily true for members of Philly's gay community. The Gryphons are Philadelphia's first rugby team marked specifically as "gay-friendly."

"There's such a physical part of the game," Ryan says. "To be an out person on a straight team may not be well-received." Team captain Joe Cruz adds that contact sports on predominantly straight teams can be "not blatantly homophobic," but says there's not the same level of comfort nor "a tacit expectation to be out to your teammates."

Apparently the team filled a community need -- the roster already has 45 players and counting. Gryphons are the Philadelphia branch of the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB), which is now some 16 teams strong, with groups representing 10 U.S. cities, the U.K., New Zealand, Canada and Argentina.

Many Americans don't know much about rugby. In the two years it has existed, IGRAB has successfully introduced the complicated sport in cities across the United States, thanks to curious people like Ryan, who had never played but was intrigued at the notion.

"One of the things about rugby in the States is, because it's not the usual sport, it really attracts people who are willing to do different things, people who feel they don't fit any kind of molds," Ryan says.

Most of the players were new to rugby when they started, and the team's Web site, www.pgrugby.org, includes a "Rugby 101" page that explains the game, admitting that "to the uninitiated, a rugby game looks like semi-organized mayhem. Bodies crash, the ball is kicked and passed in ways that seem mysterious or even illegal to football fans, and plays with unfamiliar names like "ruck,' "maul' and "scrum' continuously form and break up without rhyme or reason." The guide then goes on to compare rugby to football by citing the main differences, such as how in rugby the ball can never be passed forward and the play is continuous, not stopping with a tackle.

Once Ryan and other interested players had gathered 20 willing participants and played one regulation game, the Gryphons applied for membership in IGRAB. Ryan now sits on the board as the Philadelphia representative.

The Gryphons represent a wide cross-section of the gay community in Philadelphia. "We have a variety of social and economic backgrounds," Ryan says. Members differ in age -- ranging from 20 to the late 40s -- and education, grouping together people who went right from high school to the working world with people still in school, working on their doctoral degrees. Ryan and Cruz both work at Wharton, as a coordinator in the development office and a systems engineer, respectively.

The Gryphons meet once a week in winter and twice a week the rest of the year to practice. To date they only have a handful of games under their belts, all against teams from outside the region. They found out just last week that they had been accepted into the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union, meaning that, this fall, they will be able to play local rugby clubs and college teams as well as IGRAB-affiliated teams.

This Memorial Day, the Gryphons are heading to London for IGRAB's international tournament, their most prestigious and competitive endeavor yet. They will be playing for the Bingham Cup, the top prize in IGRAB's organization, named for Mark Bingham, a gay rugby player who was killed on flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001. Around 600 players are expected to participate and fight for the cup. Newly formed and less competitive teams play for the Bingham Plate in a separate tournament.

To get to the Bingham Cup, the Gryphons need to raise some cash, and they are doing so in a way that shows off the team's sense of humor. This weekend the team will host a bachelor auction, where bidders can "rent" a player for an outing that includes activities relating to the team member's interests (a personal trainer will offer a free workout, etc.).

The team is hoping the event, taking place at the Gayborhood's Westbury Bar and Restaurant, will raise the team's profile as well as profits for the championship trip. It's also a chance for these guys to show off how much fun they've been having -- how can you not when playing a sport that includes an unofficial third half known as the "drink up"?

Philadelphia Gryphons Auction, Sat., March 13, 10 p.m., Westbury Bar and Restaurant, 261 S. 13th St., www.pgrugby.org.