Good luck with the bid!

Can just imagine them tripping over handbags in the scrum....

why a seperate competition? What next each star sign having their own tournaments?
Where will this end?

This would be a great thing for Manchester sport and the gay community and hopefully would put the UK on the map for gay sporting events!

Let's hope Manchester is the host city!

Disgrace? How?

Just a mo, I thought gay pride etc was all about being accepted as equals. Why do they need their own rugby competition?

Here's a serious question: what would happen if I tried to organise a strictly heterosexual golf competition? I guarantee I'd face a barrage of criticism from the 'right on' brigade.

I and many many many more like me are sick to death of minority interests being cossetted.

If you want to be equal - bloody join in with the rest of us!

How do they check a player's eligability?

hmmm lots of bitter here ... if people want to organise and play in a gay rugby competition, is it any of your business or concern unless you are involved as a player or fan? just like people playing say lacrosse, a game i have no interest in at all, so i don't find lacrosse pages / stories on the web and comment on them.
as for equality / all playing in the same league or tournament etc. i'm sure some rugby, and football, and every other sport, competitors are indeed gay, but most choose to remain quiet about it as they still receive prejudice from other fans, players and the media. perhaps one day there will be no need for such events as we will be one big happy rainbow family, but i doubt it.

Just to answer a couple of your questions/comments:

Manchester Village Spartans do have straight players regularly playing for them, but are a majority gay team. They were set up over a decade ago by gay men that felt uncomfortable (for whatever reason) playing in a regular team.

The Spartans play in a regular league against "straight" teams in the north west, but do also play in gay competitions on a national, european and international level.

If you want more info, visit http://www.villagespartans.co.uk

This is great news. Love how all the bigots come out for any story like this. As a gay man I'd have loved to have been involved in a regular team with the "rest of us" guys but relentless verbal abuse, violence and hate to tend to put one off ones game. Walk a day in someone elses shoes mate, fool on the hill. How would a lifeltime of prejuidice, sarcasm and bile make you feel about joining in a team made up of people like you?

Apparently it's a 12 day tournament with 11 days of opening ceremony and 1 day of rugby...

This just serves to say ''Gays are different to normal guys. They can't compete''.

Thought the idea nowadays was equality? Why again is the gay community highlighting itself like this? Yes, you're gay, live with it, as one of your slogans tells the hetero's.

I can understand games for disabilities, because with all the will in the world, they could not really compete alongside able bodied people for most things.

What, black netball, chinese hockey, or dare i say it, straight cricket?

Can you imagine the uproar if we suggested any of the above!

This whole issue of "diversity" is really beginning to get on my ****

Normal people would read this story and just think "oh, thats nice". And move on with there lives. Probably never to think about it again.

Why would you get so upset about it???

Its just the same as an "ex-pats" tournament, or an "old boys" tournament, etc etc; its just a group of people coming together, as it were, to have some fun.

Some straight people can be such fairies at times.

Can you imagine the uproar if we suggested any of the above!

This whole issue of "diversity" is really beginning to get on my ****

We have been suggesting it for centuries..That is the problem. Someone remind me of the name of the South African sprinter that has been trying to compete on equal terms with his able boddied competitors

I read this article and thought, good on ya Ben - cracking move, and well done to the Village Spartans. I then read the comments below and thought; what a bunch of closed minded idiots there really are!

Of course people chose to be gay - because it's no different to anyone else?!?! Yes I chose a life of being stereotyped by the media, having bigoted fools shout abuse at me, I chose to be spat at, have things thrown at me and be beaten up for no more reason than being gay. Get off your bigoted horse and accept that some people come together to form a group because of something they have in common. You only have to look at how Gareth Williams was treated by Castleford Tigers, just to see how much bigotry there is in sport - and Rugby is one of the more accepting sports.

So what if the Village Spartans have set up a gay rugby team - they're not exclusively gay. If you don't think that people should set up a team because they have something in common, then the likes of the Warrington Wolves or Sale Sharks wouldn't exist - because they dare to have a "locality" in common. And god forbid having a European or Six nations competition as it might exclude someone else.

Ben has been a great supporter of the gay community, and realises that he has been able to do some good here (beyond being a great Wing man) by using his visibility to bring a great sporting event to Manchester.

How many sports people are open about their sexuality in the UK that you can name right now and what is the % in relation to society in general?
Is sport really 99.99 % straight?

Yes It's pathetic that sports people become victims of the homophobia that seems to emanate in one way or the other from the mass of brain dead consciousness, I agree, but listen up posters:

You need to really accept people for who they really are, instead of coming on here calling it ridiculous that they need to have a gay rugby team full of out and happy men, when it's you very people who contribute to the division in society.

Below is from the Huffington Post. THIS is why there are gay only teams.

Yoann Lemaire, Gay Soccer Player, Rejected By Team

Yoann Lemaire, a gay soccer player, has been rejected by his French team, according to reports. The Associated Press reports that that Lemaire spent 14 years with FC Chooz, but the team "won't register him again to avoid any 'trouble' with his teammates."

According to Out Sports, one of Lemaire's teammates "made homophobic comments in front of a TV camera" in May 2009, which led to Lemaire taking a sabbatical from the club. Now Lemaire wants to return to the team, but the club refuses to accept him.

According to a translated Le Monde article, Lemaire published a book about his experience following his teammate's televised remarks.

The gay soccer organization Paris Foot Gay is reportedly pushing for the French Football Federation to impose sanctions against FC Chooz.

Wow The UK has lots of hateful people too! I thought it was just my country the United States!
None of these countries are going to be FREE until All the hurtful Bigots grow up or should I say, grow a pair, and not be so damn afraid if gay men.
Just get to know a gay person as a person and not just a gay and you will see we are not that different,except we dont bash people for being who they are.Keep you dirty minds out of other peoples bedrooms.
Straight men like Ben Cohen are a real good example of a REAL man. Real men arn't afraid of gay men!
So all you guys with your little hateful comments please get a life and an education and Grow a pair! There are too many other things to worry about. Good God Man!

It's great to see all the commentson here, even some of the less open minded ones. Afterall, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I think the majority of the negative posts seem to be through ignorance rather than malice.

I know that the North West rugby union community are very supportive of the Spartans bid to host the competition and I know that pretty much all clubs that have played against the Spartans realise that first and foremost, the guys just want to play rugby!

Good luck to you all, I hope the bid is successful.

hi guys,

Read this with great interest and then read some comments which were a little disheartening really.

Let me firstly say that to host such a tournament in Manchester would be superb, and to have the backing of so many high profile figures is immense (i wonder if some of the comment makers thought to have a look at the excellent bid document and the media sorrounding it generally?)

I get that team sports can often exclude many people, one of these reasons possibly being that someone is gay. That a team like this encourages people into a sport is applaudable and doesn't deserve some of the comments made here.

Many of my gay friends found that when younger team sports were difficult and this followed them into adult life. I know a few of the Spartans and can honestly and truely say that the team encourages these people back into sport and removes the barriers they have faced. Who actually cares that the team was originally set up to cater for gay men? The team constitution reflects that the team is open to anyone who wants to join and has an equal opps policy as any other team. They compete succesfully in Salford university League (formely Miller Homes).

Lads - i genuinely hope you get this great event and i would urge any of the commentors, if they play rugby themselves, to get their team to sign up and come and see the talent from across the globe!

Best of luck chaps!

It's all very well but what about people who simply don't want yet another gay event in Manchester? I forgot, we have no choice.

There are all sorts of events going on in our wonderful city. You don't have to attend any of them. This happens to be another gay event, the celebration of our diversity as a world calss city is seen by events like this.

Many teams and orgnisations are set up by a group of like-minded people with a common interest or back ground. You have brass bands from certain pits - as these people worked in same area - you have public sector sports teams etc etc. It so happens that a group of gay individuals set up a rugby team where you can be openly gay or openly straight. The coup here is that they play regularly week in and week out in a so called ''normal'' league.

In this league they play all sorts of teams - some of which are openly hostile to the team and are physically and verbally abusive to the team. Rarely the team meet other like-minded teams every 2 years for an international tournament which is primarily about rugby and involves many gay and straight and bi players.

I do not feel it is bigotted for saying an event exclusively for gay men should not happen, as a gay man I am in agreement. This is why the rugby team and the Bingham cup as a whole is so specia asl these are entirely inclusive to rugby players, it happens to be organised by gay teams - which happen to have been set up by men from the gay community. So a heterosexual golf tournament is fine as long as it includes gay competitors.

Society is not inclusive, if any minority tries to 'join in' it's not long before they're accused of 'trying to take over'. Either way they'll be pushed out sooner or later, by hook or crook.
Luckily I've no interest in 'joining in' because I find most mainstream people to be dull beyond words.