Featured events


7-9 September 2012
Brussels Games
Brussels

Brussels Gay Sports will offer a weekend of fun and fairplay in the capital of Europe, with volleyball, swimming, badminton, and tennis, as well as fitness and hiking.

Learn more HERE.
26-28 October 2012
QueergamesBern
Bern, Switzerland

The success of the first edition of the QueergamesBern proved the need for an LGBT multisport event in Switzerland. This year will be even bigger, with badminton, bowling, running, walking, floorball.

Learn more HERE.
17-20 January 2013
Sin City Shootout
Las Vegas
The 7th Sin City Shootout will feature softball, ice hockey, tennis, wrestling, basketball, dodgeball, bodybuilding and basketball.

Learn more HERE.

13-16 June 2013
IGLFA Euro Cup
Dublin
After this year's edition in Budapest at the EuroGames, the IGLFA Euro Cup heads to Dublin for 2013, hosted by the Dublin Devils and the Dublin Phoenix Tigers.

Learn more HERE.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Gay football players not necessarily flamboyant, according to The Independent

In this extract from thei profile of MBE honoree Aslie Pitter, The Independent is amazed that gay men can play football without swooshing:

They do not, in other words, stand out in the crowd. No player rushes in the opposite direction of the approaching ball, arms flailing and shrieking theatrically. They perform much as one would expect of any team that plays in the Middlesex County League (albeit one currently languishing towards the bottom of the table).

Their ascension into this league, several years ago now, played a crucial part in cementing their reputation as, for want of a better term, a "proper" team. Previously, they had played only other gay teams that began to spring up in their wake – and, every four years, in the Gay Games, the world's largest sporting and cultural event organised by and specifically for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) athletes. When they found themselves promoted into a straight league, says 29-year-old first-team captain Doug Edward, straight players had to take them seriously.

"The initial reaction was, I suppose, inevitable," he says. "Most of the teams were wary of losing to a bunch of queers, or else were convinced they'd beat us easily. But once we proved our worth and beat them, regularly, that attitude stopped pretty much all together. We were just another football team, and treated accordingly."

Any vocal criticism that has come their way has emanated, perhaps surprisingly, from within the gay community itself.

"We've had far more prejudice from the gay community than we ever had from the straight," confirms team manager Eric Najib. "When they first heard of our existence, we got an awful lot of sniggers. They asked whether we were trying to be butch. All ridiculous, of course, but I suppose, to many people, gay people included, being gay means going out and drinking and dot dot dot, not indulging in sport."

Pitter says he has frequently come up against similar reactions: "I had to explain to many of my friends that, no, I don't just like show tunes but Van Halen as well. It is possible for a gay man, or woman, to like things other than the obvious. Should it really be such a surprise?" He sighs; this isn't the first time he has had to stress this.

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