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, March 18, 2012

Australian rugby star David Pocock is committed to ethical manufacturing and marriage equality

From Australia's Daily Telegraph, a profile of Austrlian rugby international David Pocock and his social engagement (h/t Sydney Convicts):

David Pocock is defying the world's most powerful sports manufacturers, religious lobbyists, and his parents.

By launching his own brand of football boots to protest against slave labour, and campaigning for same-sex marriage, Pocock has gone well beyond rival players and referees to take on the church and a multi-billion-dollar empire run by Nike, adidas and the rest.

It is an unparalleled stand by one of the world's best rugby players, but Pocock says: "Desmond Tutu, who was huge in South Africa in fighting apartheid, said that to be neutral in injustice is to merely support the status quo."

The Wallaby flanker's stance is sure to infuriate the influential sports manufacturing industry but Pocock welcomes the attention to his cause.

Being raised in a Christian home does not stop Pocock highlighting the hypocrisy of his own religion. And it won't compel him to legally marry partner Emma Palandri unless their gay friends have the same rights - even if the law is not changed by the time they have children.

"Witnessing the injustice upon a minority group, and to have the opportunity in some small way to stand in solidarity with them, was really important for us," Pocock says.

Pocock is sitting at a cafe that serves only fair trade coffee, wearing a self-designed T-shirt featuring reggae musician Lucky Dube, and carrying a university handbook on the health benefits of indigenous food.

He runs his own charity, EightyTwenty Vision, which helps a remote community in Zimbabwe. He freely admits that sport is the one section of the newspaper he doesn't read. Not your average 23-year-old star athlete with global adulation.

In an era of tailor-made fluorescent boots, Pocock chooses to ignore six-figure sponsorship deals, instead painting over the logo of his boots.

His brand, Heroes Boots, will be releasing rugby balls in two months, with the ethically produced boots to follow later.

Keep reading HERE.

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