The Bingham Cup is an international rugby competition named in remembrance of Mark Kendall Bingham, one of the heroic victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist action in the USA. Mark was a keen rugby player, playing for one of USA’s leading gay & bisexual rugby teams - San Francisco Fog RFC.

In 2002 a coordinating group of gay & bisexual rugby teams based around the globe got together to create IGRAB a body to promote rugby as an all-inclusive non-discriminatory sport which everyone can play, regardless of sexuality. The formation of this body led to the inauguration of a new international rugby competition which in a unanimous decision by all the members of IGRAB became known as the Bingham Cup.

The first Bingham Cup was held in 2002 and hosted by the San Francisco Fog, Mark Bingham’s home team. That year, eight teams traveled to California to compete over two days with the Fog coming out on top as the Cup’s first winners. In 2004, the Bingham Cup was hosted by London’s Kings Cross Steelers. From eight teams just two years prior, twenty teams from four countries were fielded for the 2004 Bingham Cup which was won for the second time by the San Francisco Fog. New York's Gotham Knights took up the host mantle in 2006 and along with the addition of a third day of match play the Knights presided over a new mid-tier competition (The Bowl) and an inaugural Women's competition. That year the Cup and Plate were won by the Sydney Convicts and The Bowl was won by the Boston Ironsides.

As we open registration for the 2008 Bingham Cup, we are planning a similar competition structure as that implemented in New York and anticipating further growth in the number of teams attending.