{"id":527488,"date":"2026-03-08T21:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T21:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527488\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T21:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T21:18:12","slug":"meet-the-queer-blak-rugby-team-taking-on-the-ella-7s-te-ao-maori-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/527488\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the queer Blak rugby team taking on the Ella 7s \u2013 Te Ao M\u0101ori News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">This article was first published on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbs.com.au\/nitv\/article\/meet-the-queer-blak-rugby-team-taking-on-the-ella-7s\/34fio6eyp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sbs.com.au\/nitv\/article\/meet-the-queer-blak-rugby-team-taking-on-the-ella-7s\/34fio6eyp\">NITV<\/a> in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">At 19, James Saunders played his first Bingham Cup for the Brisbane Hustlers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Cup is part of the global queer rugby union movement, named after gay San Francisco Fog player Mark Bingham, who died in the 9\/11 attacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The same year James debuted at the cup, he came out to his family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI was able to go through that journey with my rugby team family,\u201d he told NITV.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Wiradjuri and Gunditjmara man grew up playing rugby union at boarding school. The cup has kept him on the field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Fast forward, James has played eight tournaments and is ready to debut his own team this year in Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p>Making history at the Ella 7s<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">James is the Director and Co-Founder of the First Nations Lorikeets, a LGBTQIA+ rugby union team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">This year, the Lorikeets are competing in the Ella 7s, the flagship Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Rugby Union 7s tournament playing in Tuggerah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">They\u2019ll be the first queer-identifying club to compete.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt didn\u2019t dawn on me, or I think any of us that we\u2019re are going to be the first,\u201d said James.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt was just like the Ella 7s is coming up, it\u2019s a few months before the Bingham Cup, this is a great tournament to introduce the club to the world &#8211; we just said let\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">I\u2019m looking forward to seeing the players come into their own and stand in their own identity &#8211; stand really strong and proud in who they are.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">With big milestones coming in 2026, James hopes this is just the start for the Lorikeets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI hope that the club can establish itself as a legitimate rugby club,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cHopefully this is a pathway to a sport that has given me so much, I\u2019d love the club to give back to grassroots community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">And for anyone who\u2019s interested, James said they\u2019re \u201calready recruiting!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Creating the Lorikeets<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cRugby, traditionally is a very conservative sport, it\u2019s played by all the elite private schools within Australia,\u201d James explained.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cUnless you go to those schools, you don\u2019t really have contact with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">James co-founded the team with friend and teammate Dylan Hoskins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Dylan is an avid player but moving back to Country threatened his ability to keep involved in the sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI yarned with James and we created this pathway,\u201d said the Gumbaynggirr, Dunghutti and Bundjalung man.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWorking with James, he is so on point with everything, he knows rugby so well. He\u2019s been part of the Bingham Cup since it first started and played in so many teams, he has his own legacy here in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The team is stretched across the country, and meet in-person once in a while.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re pumping out emails, we\u2019re calling players, we\u2019re making sure that they\u2019re doing some form of cardio and strength training so that when we do come together, we\u2019re hopefully match fit,\u201d explained Dylan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re coaching them along the sidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2018A chance to be visible\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">For James and Dylan, the Lorikeets are more than a team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cPlayers can come in, no matter their gender identity, their sexuality, who they are, they have a space and they can belong and feel supported,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThere are a lot of things other rugby clubs offer but it doesn\u2019t always include our lived experience or where we\u2019re coming from, or the type of space that we need to support us and hold us,\u201d added Dylan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe Lorikeets are an inclusive and safe home for LGBTQIA+. Wherever you sit, we have a space for you, it\u2019s a space where you can show up in all your colours, as all you are, and feel safe and seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Quinton Reeks, a Gubbi Gubbi and two-spirit person, had never played a game of rugby in their life before the Lorikeets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cI was only introduced to the sport through another member,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a chance to be visible, I\u2019m part of something special. It\u2019s my first time in something like this, I\u2019m excited to be part of the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">By Rachael Knowles, Juanita Scott-Funaki, Laura Rose, and Rachel Baikie of NITV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was first published on NITV in Australia. At 19, James Saunders played his first Bingham Cup&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[12365,64,63,9967,46786,760,155684,85,262259],"class_list":["post-527488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-aboriginal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-indigenous","tag-lgbtqia","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-7s","tag-sports","tag-torres-strait-islanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}