This week saw a major milestone for Cork’s LGBT-inclusive rugby team as they were officially ratified as an IRFU club.
The Hellhounds were only established last October, and despite all the restrictions they’ve been making leaps and bounds in all kinds of positive ways since.
The team, who train in Mahon twice a week, have grown to about 40 members and have players coming from all over the province to be part of their barrier-breaking setup.
Wednesay was a major one for the club as Munster Rugby announced they were bringing them in as official members of their branch within the Irish rugby family.
President and founder Adam O’Brien called the moment “surreal”, while vice pres Scott De Buitleir spoke to CorkBeo about the team’s journey to becoming Ireland’s third, and Munster’s first, LGBT-inclusive club.
It all started when Adam, a Ballincollig native, came back to the county having played with the Emerald Warriors in Dublin before.
Adam started looking establishing a club here, and put a callout with the help of The Gay Project in Cork city.
He soon found a core group who were interested in making it happen, so they got to work.
(Image: Cork Hellhounds)
“So it came along similar veins to the Warriors and Aslans in Belfast too”, Scott said.
“It started with a Zoom call in September and there was about 12 who were originally up for giving it a go. We started off training at Monaghan Road Park and just went through the main basics from there.”
Most of the Hellhound’s players are beginners, and Scott said the team has two main goals going forward. One is to shake off any stigma about LGBT people in sport and the other is to promote rugby among that community in Munster.
He said: “The vast majority of people involved have no rugby experience at all. Gradually the word got out, we’ve got the support of The Gay Project, International Gay Rugby, and Munster Rugby.
“It was a fairly daunting task to go through the process of making a club.
“The point of the Cork Hellhounds is two-fold. It’s to promote rugby within the LGBT community in Cork and throughout the Munster region, but also to play our part in terms of fighting any kind of remaining stigma or negative connotations about LGBT players or even in the community in general in terms of participation in sport.
“I suppose there’s an old traditional stereotype that gay people aren’t seen as sporty, and through inclusive teams like the Warriors and the Hellhounds we can show that it’s an accessible sport to the community and show they’ve as just as much a right to be on the pitch as anyone else.
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“Previously, especially for the slightly older players like myself in my 30s, growing up towards the end of a more conservative Ireland we’d have felt that being gay or bisexual meant we didn’t really have a place on a rugby team or sports team of any kind.
“I grew up going to a rugby school in Dublin, and during that time I felt it was no place for me. But through teams like the Hellhounds that kind of connotation’s not there.”
Scott went on to say that all are welcome to come and play – whether they’re looking to get involved in serious competition or just want to make friends and stay fit.
“We’re an inclusive rugby team for anyone regardless of sexual orientation or gender. And everyone’s welcome to come give it a go whether it’s to take it seriously with an aim to win matches or just keeping fit and making friends.
“We train twice a week off the Ringmahon Road. Tuesday evenings and Sunday mornings. So we’ll be there for the summer at the very least.
(Image: Cork Hellhounds)
“We’ve now got the guts of around 40 members who train regularly. It’s mostly guys at the moment but we do have one woman and two non-binary identifying players too.
“So because the majority are men so far our focus is on developing a men’s team. But we do hope to work wit LINC (Lesbian and Bisexual advocacy group in Cork) and see if there’s interest amongst women around the county and possibly develop a women’s team as well.
“But in terms of the training anyone’s welcome and we’ll hopefully play a few friendly touch games once we get up to that standard.
“As the team is mostly beginners it’ll probably be October before we’ll be looking at playing games.”
Interest from further afield
One thing the team have noticed since starting is the interest they’re getting from Cork’s edges and beyond.
They’ve got one player who travels from outside Killarney, another in Bantry, and have gotten interest from Limerick too.
“There was a player coming down from Tipperary too. So there are people who are making an effort to get across county lines when lockdown has permitted so there clearly is an interest from the communities further afield.
“Being the only club of its kind in Munster hasn’t been a challenge for us though, we’ve developed good friendships with Belfast Aslans and we’re hoping to do a training sessions and friendly match with them in October.
“We’re part of a very warm and welcoming gay rugby community in Ireland, the UK, and even continental Europe so there’s opportunities to take part there once we’re ready.
“Loads of clubs throughout Munster have sent us warm welcome messages and congratulated us for being ratified. So I think it’s just a case of getting ourselves ready for our first match ad then we’ll be kicking off in style and getting to know the rest of the rugby community in Munster.”
Find out more
If you’d like to find out more about The Hellhounds you can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The team are currently training on Tuesdays from 7.30pm-9.30pm and Sundays from 11am-1pm at the Mahon Rugby Grounds.
