International rugby tournament kicks off in Ottawa to honour 9/11 hero, support LGBTQ rights

The world's largest amateur rugby tournament has its opening ceremonies in Ottawa Wednesday, with more than 1,700 players from 20 countries participating.

What sets this biennial tournament — the Bingham Cup — apart from others, is the fact it has become a world cup of gay and inclusive rugby.

This is the tourney's 10th anniversary, and is being held in Canada for the first time. 

The Bingham Cup is named after Mark Bingham, a rugby player who died on Sept. 11, 2001, when he and a group of passengers attempted to overpower a group of hijackers on United Flight 93. The hijackers intended to crash the plane into a Washington, D.C., target but it ended up crashing into a Pennsylvania field killing all on board, including Bingham.

The Bingham Cup honours both his heroism and his devotion to promoting LGBTQ causes, according to his closest friend Amanda Mark, an Australian citizen who is in Ottawa for the tournament. 

"He became a hero that day, tackling the hijackers, taking out that plane and saving potentially thousands of other Americans on that day but he was also an avid rugby player so that's why we're here," Mark told Hallie Cotnam on Ottawa Morning Tuesday. 

The tournament's inclusiveness translates to the competition on the field too, with participants of all skill levels, according to Jean-Francois Laberge, president of Ottawa's Bingham Cup organizing committee.

"A lot of people will not realize the scale of it. It starts off with getting the hosting rights. In 2018, the Ottawa Wolves, Ottawa's only gay and inclusive team, flew to Amsterdam to present our bid to get the hosting rights and after that we set about the business of putting the tournament on."

The tourney features a women's cup as well, named after