HYDE PARK — More than 800 gay rugby players could lock in a scrum in Washington Park if a group of current and former players can land the World Cup of gay rugby for 2016.
On Wednesday, Craig Sklenar and other players made their case to 52 gay rugby teams to bring the biennial Bingham Cup, the world’s largest gay rugby tournament, to the South Side of Chicago.
“We have the best gay culture in the country — we’re internationally renowned,” Sklenar, a former Chicago Dragons player, said from Sydney, Australia, as he prepared his pitch.
The 12-year-old tournament is due to return to the Northern Hemisphere in 2016, and Chicago players are ready to drive out Boston and Nashville from consideration when Chicago is among the contenders.
“Hyde Park and Washington Park is to me one of the best areas in the city,” Sklenar said. “There’s an 'L' stop close by and there’s a hospital close by — the unfortunate truth about rugby is people get hurt.”
Rugby is a notoriously aggressive game played with all the viciousness of American football but without the pads.
“It’s competitive, rugby is by its nature competitive,” Sklenar said. “But you leave all that aggression on the pitch.”
If successful, about 45 teams from across the world and 2,000 fans would descend on Washington Park for three days in late June 2016 during the Chicago Pride Festival weekend.
Organizers said holes would need to be dug for the goal posts, but beyond that no major changes would need to be made to the park.
Cecilia Butler, president of the Washington Park Advisory Council, said the tournament could bring some needed activity to the park, which is already popular among rugby and cricket players on weekend mornings.
“The park is made to be used,” Butler said.
She said she hoped the tournament included efforts to get local youths involved.
Sklenar said he planned to meet with Butler when he returned from Sydney and was hoping to include in the tournament a program to introduce rugby to gay youths on the South Side.
The choice between Chicago, Boston and Nashville will be decided by a vote of the 52 teams eligible to participate in the Bingham Cup in November.
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