2006 Trip To NYC The main impetus for my trip to New York was to watch the 2006 Bingham Cup...

The 2006 Bingham Cup took place in New York City

Many of the cuts and scrapes could have been avoided if one
of the organizers had thought it necessary to clean the pitches
before they started playing. As it happened, no one noticed the
broken glass and bottle caps in the grass until players fell onto them.

The Tournament

THE THIRD BINGHAM CUP
I love watching rugby - it can be just as fast-paced and thrilling as any of the more popular sports. Because of my love for the sport and for my missing friend came all the way out to New York City to watch the largest Bingham Cup yet.

RANDAL'S ISLAND
Man, they couldn't pick a worse spot for this event if they tried. I went to the host hotel and I had to ask three staff members for directions because the concierge had never heard of the place. I took the subway up to Harlem and then a bus out to the island - I had to let intuition guide me because no one put up any signs. After a couple of wrong turns, I eventually found the tournament.

The third time the ambulance arrived, I decided
to snap a photo. The guy in the back hurt his neck and or shoulder.

MASS CONFUSION
There were five rugby matches going on simultaneously. It was incredibly frustrating to try and follow anything because there were no signs designating which pitch was which, no schedules posted close to any of the pitches and the only information available at the information booth was win/loss info. I'm not shy about asking for information and I quickly found out that some of the teams had traded jerseys making it even more difficult to follow what was going on. I tried to watch several matches but no one knew who was playing or what the score was. I got so fed up and frustrated that I finally went back to the City early.

Alice (Mark Bingham's mum) with the finals over her shoulder.

THE FINALS
The last day of the event, I made the trek out to the island again - but this time I brought my little British Texan friends who live on Long Island now. We watched the San Francisco Fog and the Sydney Convicts battle it out in the finals for the Bingham Cup. This match was held in a much nicer area just across the road I kept to the grassy parts because the metal bleachers had been baking in the sun all morning and it was hot enough without having to deal with that. While the pitch looked to be in better shape, there was still no score board and it was infuriating not to be able to follow the game. I went round to the Fog side of the pitch and though I asked several people, many couldn't tell the score. Even from that vantage point, when there are players between you and the refs, it's impossible to see if the try was good.

HALF TIME CONTROVERSY
At the half, two guys on a dare streaked across the pitch. It was a funny little interlude with the crowd singing taunts. The whole thing was over in about three minutes and wouldn't have even been memorable in and of itself because it happens at so many rugby and soccer games. This time however some jackass got on a microphone at the stadium next to the pitch. The two areas were seperated by a chain link fence and about 30 meters of grass with maybe 3 or 4 hundred people on our side of the fence and about twenty people on the other side preparing for some kind of track and field event. The guy on the mic was threatening to shut down our tournament because there were children on his side of the fence. His homophobic tirade felt so abusive and I couldn't help but think that his negative attitude towards the streakers was far more damaging than any momentary nudity that transpired.

ALL IN ALL
At the end of it all, I'd have to say I had fun in spite of the organizers and certainly not because of them. I realize that rugby doesn't have much support in this country and gay rugby is a relatively new phenomenon but honestly, they had two years to prepare and two previous Binghan Cups to learn from. In my opinion, there's just no excuse for such sloppy event production. At the very least they could have sent someone down to Office Depot with twenty bucks for some flip chart paper and felt pens. Such a small gesture would have gone a long way to making casual spectators feel more welcome and informed.