The Wallabies' recent success and the growing profile of the Wallaroos has reached across the nation's sporting landscape to coincide with a massive coup for Australia's gay and inclusive scene.
The Bingham Cup, the world’s largest gay and inclusive rugby tournament, is set to be played in Brisbane for the first time ever in 2026 and lands on Australian shores at the perfect time.
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The event will be in its 12th iteration, with the Sydney Convicts (five titles) and the Melbourne Chargers (one title) headlining a strong Australian contingent in the history of the tournament.
The hosts of the 2026 tournament, the Brisbane Hustlers, are yet to lift the Bingham Cup after a second-place finish at the 2014 edition in Sydney.
But with the side fresh off winning the 2025 Purchas Cup last weekend, Jason Garrick, former club president and a Director of Proud2Play Inc, believes the time is right for the competition to arrive on Australian shores.
“The Bingham Cup is the colloquial term for two tournaments. One is the Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Rugby Tournament, and also the Amanda Mark Cup, which is the women's division,” Garrick explained to Rugby.com.au.
“Mark was instrumental in advocating for their inclusion in divisional rugby. [His] loss translated into people who cared about Mark to share his love of rugby, that rugby should be a place of safety and inclusion for everyone.
“Rugby has often prized itself on the concept that it's a game for all bodies in all shapes. Mark's contribution to rugby and his love of rugby managed to inspire other people around him to get excited and say, yeah, we should be on this field too.”
Jason has served as both Brisbane Hustlers president and secretary since joining the club in 2012.
Coming from Central West Queensland, Garrick saw the Hustlers as a path to reconnect with his father, and seeing previous iterations of the Purchas Cup played out at Ballymore ignited a passion for the game that has lasted over a decade, which has seen him play in both tournaments.
“Sport for me was about connecting with my dad,” Garrick explained.
“My dad had died from cancer about 10 years beforehand and he always asked me to go back to team sport, but it wasn't safe. That was a conversation that was really hard to have in 2005.
“I'd read a lot about the Hustlers, I'd heard about the [Sydney] Convicts, I'd seen them on the footy show, but it all seemed a bit far off for me.
“When I had the opportunity to go down to the Hustlers, I did and it then created what is now a 12-year love affair with rugby, with LGBTIQA inclusion in sport.
“These tournaments create an avenue for people to be authentic when there still continues to be such stigma applied to people who are part of gender and sexually diverse communities.
“I had my first exposure to Ballymore when I went to watch the Reds and the Crusaders. I went down as a UQ student and sat on the hill and got really drunk and had a cracker of an afternoon. And also a cracking headache the next day.
“Going back [to play there] almost 10 years to the day, surrounded by people with queer identities, that sense of community was so special to me. My first experience of the Purchas Cup at Ballymore was this sense of, ‘I can do this and I can belong in this environment’.”
The growth in the tournament and the number of clubs in Australia over the last decade has been reflective of the LGBTIQA community starting to embrace the sport - with a major reason being the inclusive message and safe space it provides.
“What gay and inclusive sport is all about is about saying, don't hide who you are,” Garrick added.
“Because your participation matters. Your competition matters.
“That's what I think the Bingham Cup and Amanda Mark Cups do so beautifully, which is to celebrate participation, because not every person on that field is a member of the LGBTIQA+ communities.
“But they are people who believe that rugby is for everyone, and that everyone should have the opportunity to push themselves in a really safe environment.
“What we've seen is that LGBTIQA+ communities really celebrating rugby union as a sport to bring people together and to create a platform for people to grow on and off the field.
“For queer identities exploring who they are, again, that comes with risk, and that is risk of excommunication from families, from friends, from religion, from societies, from communities.
“Rugby says, or particularly gay and inclusive rugby says, you have a seat on our bench, we'll be here for you, and we'll become your chosen family and friends.”
Garrick believes that significant strides have been made in the last decade, with clubs becoming more integrated within the Australian rugby ecosystem and more players coming out publicly; particularly in the women’s game, with the likes of Sharni Smale and Lori Cramer.
However, while he believes the sport is on the right path representation there is still a long way to go - which makes events like the 2026 Bingham Cup even more important.
“I'm very excited by the integration of LGBTIQA+ inclusive clubs being part of the furniture for what I call ‘sandstone’ clubs in Australia,” Garrick added.
“You've got the Brisbane Hustlers with a strong relationship with Norths. You've got Sydney, with a strong relationship with Colleagues.
“Similarly with Melbourne and also in Perth with Curtin [Uni]. Creating a template of LGBTIQA+ inclusion in sport [so it] isn't just a nice to have, it's a very easy possibility.
“I think we've got wonderful examples in trailblazers. The women in rugby have been trailblazers, have absolutely blazed the trail for queer participation in rugby in Australia. There is no question in my mind.
“I am so proud to be associated in a sport where these incredible people have set the tone. Ellia [Green] coming back, Sharni continuing to play, putting that rainbow head gear on and running out and seeing that.
“That was wonderful representation, right? But until such time as we can play across all levels of elite representative sport without the scandal and without the ‘unhealthy curiosity’, then we're not at that stage yet.
“I think we've come a long way, but we also have a lot more work to do. We have to individually think about what we want rugby union to be.
“Rugby is for everyone and we need to proactively say it is for everyone and this is why. And treat everyone with kindness no matter what their background is.
“But I really believe that we're on the way.
“Hosting tournaments like the Bingham Cup, like the Purchas Cup and celebrating them is going to show that we do belong.
“Hopefully that makes it a little bit easier for the next generation.”
