The Chicago Dragons have a busy month—on and off the pitch.
The Dragons, the first predominantly-gay rugby club in the Midwest, will participate May 12 in the Fox Valley Rugby Tournament, the team's final action of the spring.
Then, on May 19, the Dragons will host its annual bachelor auction at Sidetrack, starting at 7 p.m. The popular auction is the team's main fund-raiser for the 2008 Bingham Cup, to be held in Dublin, Ireland. The Bingham Cup is the biennial international rugby competition named after Mark Bingham, a hero of United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. Bingham played for the predominantly gay San Francisco Fog after leading the University of California-Berkeley to a national championship. The 2006 Bingham Cup was held in New York City, attracting about 1,000 worldwide players.
The Dragons will send about 25 players to the '08 Bingham Cup, and another 10 or more fans and partners will attend as well.
'This year, we're finally playing as a team. We're playing well on offense, adjusting well on defense,' said Dragons' team president and captain Paul Cannella. 'I think a lot of that has to do with the coaching [ of ] Andrew York and Mary Swanstrom—probably the best coaching staff we've ever had since we started,' in December 2003.
'We used to just be a motley group of sorts, one that was sort of just thrown together and we took whoever we could get,' he added. 'Well, the level of game we're now playing is the best we're at, of all time.'
This spring, the Dragons lost handily to UIC and the Manhattan Shamrocks but, in mid-April, recorded back-to-back wins over the Nashville Grizzlies and the Minneapolis Mayhem. On April 28, the Dragons lost 55-0 to ( Northwestern University ) Kellogg.
'There have been quite a few spankings this season. We've given a few and, well, been on the receiving end, too,' Cannella said. 'The strength of the team is its forwards, but our biggest improvement has been [ with ] the backs. They're now playing at a similar level to the forwards.
'The losses we've suffered have shown improvements over past games against those [ same teams ] , so it's good to see we're heading in the right direction.'
The Dragons' lineup this spring includes several new, talented rookies, such as Matt Worthington, Bob Schumacher and Philippe Gardner. 'We probably have the best rookie recruiting class that we've had in two years,' Cannella said. 'We've picked up some rookies who are starting and they're very good athletes.
'The more we're around, the more credibility it draws. And that leads more athletes, more better-skilled athletes to the team. We're getting athletes to join the team who are more serious about the sport, about the team. We've sort of shaken out all of the team who sort of just think they can come out and play because it's neat.'
The Dragons feature 38 players on its roster, and about 85 percent are gay, Cannella said. The team returns to action in early September for a two-month season.