About us

We are the only LGBTQ+ rugby club in the Netherlands. Our goal is for everyone to enjoy rugby in a prejudice free environment and consider rugby to be for all. We are committed to creating a safe and welcoming environment where players of all levels of experience feel at home.

Goals

To create a team that values and plays competitive and social rugby;
To deliver training programmes at various levels to all players to enhance their abilities;
To provide an environment in which persons of various genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds can feel comfortable about themselves while participating in rugby;
To ensure that all of its players gain self-confidence and motivation;
Encourage, grow, and connect the Club’s supporter network, as well as promote stronger community ties;
To offer an active social program for the benefit of players and supporters; and
To collaborate with other LGBTQ+ sports organisations, sports organisations, and Rugby Netherlands to advance diversity and inclusion in sport and society.

History of the club

In 1995 the first International Gay Rugby organisation was founded.
In 2003 we started with the first practice sessions in the woods of Amsterdam under the name NOP, coached by a trailblazing trans coach.
In 2008 we joined the Amstelveense Rugby Club and participated for the first time in the Bingham Cup, the world’s biggest LGBTQ+ rugby tournament
In 2011 we had the honor to host the European version, the Union Cup in Amsterdam and Amstelveen.
In 2012 we scored our first Bingham Cup try in Manchester.
In 2014 we won our first Bingham Cup matches in Sydney and were honored with the Ben Cohen StandUp Award for excellent sportsmanship in rugby
In 2018 we hosted the Bingham Cup Amsterdam 2018 with more than 64 men and women teams, the biggest edition in the history of the tournament. This was also the first time the tournament was organised on continental Europe and had a women’s tournament.
In 2020 we initiated our W team who compete in the women's division.
In 2020 the Lowlander M starts playing in the national social competition.
In 2023 we will initiate our own LGBTQ+ rugby tournament “The Amsterdam Cup”
In 2023 we expanded to include our Pink team, that competed in the Union Cup Birmingham. At this tournament our W team finishes top of the women's Cup.
In 2024 our W team won the Amanda Cup at Bingham in Rome, our M Orange team finished 2nd in their division and our M Pink team won their first Bingham match against Oslo.

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