September 13, 2025 • 8 mins
The Purchas Cup 2025 is one of the most important events on the gay and inclusive rugby calendar, and it's taking place this weekend.
The Purchas Cup 2025 had its opening ceremony on Thursday night at the All Blacks Experience, with the event attracting over 300 players and supporters.
Andrew Purchas joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This weekend, the New Zealand Falcons are hosting the Purchase Cup,
the annual trans Tasman inclusive rugby tournament at Western Springs.
The Purchase Cup is named after Andrew Purchase, who founded
the Sydney Convicts Rugby Club, the first gay rugby union
club in Australia. He co founded Pride in Sport, the
world's first membership based program assisting sporting organizations with their
(00:35):
gender and sexuality diversity. He's the chair of its advisory committee.
In twenty seventeen, he was awarded a Medal of the
Order of Australia for services to rugby union and to
the promotion of social inclusion for the LGBTI community. Earlier
this year he was appointed to the Board of Commissioners
of the Australian Sports Commission. Andrew Purchase is in studio
(00:57):
with us. Thanks for stopping in, Andrew. How long has
the Purchase Cup tournament been going, Jason.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Great to be here and thank you for having me on.
The first iteration was in two thousand and four and
there have been fourteen different stagings of the event with
a varying number of clubs competing over that period.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How often has it been held here in New Zealand.
This is the.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Second time it was held here in twenty fifteen, not
long after the Falcons kind of re emerged as New
Zealand's LGBTI of gay football rugby club. They stayed a
really successful tournament and in fact they won they won
the Cup that year being the Sydney Comic. So I
(01:42):
was certainly certainly a great effort and they've been a
great club for a long time and you know, we're
really excited to be here and they've put an enormous
amount of work to make this. I think the fourteenth
iteration of the event probably the best ever. And I
think we've got the most teams competing with six clubs
from Australia and New Zealand and eight teams in total
to be participating over the next couple of days.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
How competitive is it?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Very All of the players really want to take over
the cup. So there are two divisions. There's the Cup
and the Shield division. And you know, the Cup is
for the it's kind of the premiere competition and the
Shield is the sort of second second competition. I think
one of the things that's been really pleasing with Gain
(02:30):
inclusive rugby has been, you know, the ability for clubs
to have multiple sides and actually been in a position
to be able to provide an opportunity for adults who
may not have played rugby before to actually learn the game.
And often you know, I think it's probably the same
in New Zealand, but in Australia, if you don't learn
as a as a kid at school or through junior
club rugby, it's often very difficult to learn as an adult.
(02:52):
But the gay, Gay and Inclusive teams have really made
an effort to create pathway pathways for people who want
to get involved in rugby where they can kind of
learn and develop the skills and learn how to play
a contact sport from scratch having had no experience. So
having two divisions provides the opportunity for clubs to have
(03:13):
those who have perhaps had some experience previously, have played
contact sport before, or are quick learners and can really
compete at a pretty high level. And then the shield
competition then, you know, provides the opportunity where teams of
a more equal standard and playing history can kind of
play it against each other, but regardless of the player's experience,
there's still a desire to want to do well. There's
(03:34):
still a desire to want to play rugby at a
high level and to kind and to win their games,
or at least to compete and to perform better than
they've better perform before.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
How much have numbers of gay and inclusive rugby players
grown in the last no, last decade, Let's say.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
The growth has been significant. My first involvement was back
in two thousand and one in San Francisco when gay
rugby was really just starting. I'd had a long rugby
background in Australia, playing club level and kind of community
based rugby. And then the first iteration of the Bingham Cup,
(04:18):
which is the World Cup of Gay Rugby. It started
in two thousand and two after the September eleven disaster
and it was founded by the San Francisco Fog. I
was living in San Francisco at the time, and it's
named after a guy called Mark Bingham who played with
the San Francisco Fog and I played with him the
(04:38):
first game that they competed in back in two thousand
and one, and he was one of the people who
were pretty sure was on that. Well, it was definitely
on the last plane that crashed. Two went in the
World Trades and one went into the Pentagon and that
plane crashed in the field in Pennsylvania, and we're very
confident that he was one of four people who overtook
the plane from the hijackers and crashed it into the field,
(05:01):
knowing that its intended destination was the White House. And
in honor of him, they started the BM Cup in
two thousand and two and there were six clubs competed,
eight teams all up, so that was the extent of
pretty much gay rugby around the world. Then we now
have about one hundred and fifty plus gay rugby clubs
(05:21):
around the world. The tenth the iteration of the BEM
Cup was held in Rome last year and I think
there are one hundred and fifty odd teams competing. So
around the world we've seen a significant increase in gay
and inclusive rugby, which has been fantastic in our region
in Australasia, you know, we've slowly developed more clubs. We
(05:43):
now have clubs from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and
of course the wonderful New Zealand Falcons.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
When you were awarded the Middle of Order of Australia
in twenty seventeen, you said, despite significant social advances and
the recognition of rights of gay and transgender people, discrimination
and sport continues to be both common and damaging. Have
things improved in the eight years since?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yes? I think yes, definitely things have improved. I think
back in back around that period, in the mid noughties,
or around twenty fourteen twenty fifteen, at least in Australia,
I think New Zealand was probably ahead of us. Very
little had been done in the sporting environment. Significant progress
had been made in the corporate and business world. But
(06:33):
when we hosted the Bingham Cup in twenty fourteen, we
decided to put a real focus on LGBTI inclusion in
sport and we looked at the four football codes AFL, soccer,
rugby union, rugby league and cricket and none of them
had inclusion policies. They all had anti discrimination and anti
vilification policies, but none of them had made any positive
steps to recognize that there was a real barrier for
(06:57):
same sex attracted and tend to diverse people to actually
participate in sport, and we've seen a significant improvement, but
you know, still we've a long, long, long way to go.
If we just look at the number of our male
players across those codes, you know, it's virtually none. You know,
there've been a couple of high profile ex all blacks
(07:17):
who have come out over the last couple of years,
which has been fantastic, you know, recently in the Aflquacha
with the made news here, made news here, but Mitch
Brown came out he retired probably ten years ago. He
came out as bisexual, and that caused you know, significant
amount of interest. But I think the interest almost indicates
kind of how novel it is and how we've still
(07:39):
got a long way to go to create an environment
where people feel very well, people feel comfortable to express
their sexuality and also play sport. And I think a
consequence of that is there's been significant amount of self
selecting along the way. You know, some of the research
we did around the time of the Bingham Cup twenty
fourteen really indicated that the gay men, in particular, their
(08:02):
aversion to playing sport or feeling involved in sport is
very early and sometimes and it often starts at school
and pe classes. So I think where there's an awareness
of that there's a lot of work to do, and
there has been a lot of focus on it. We're
still a long way from being in a position where
the likes of the clubs that are competing in Auckland
(08:23):
in this weekend wouldn't necessarily need to exist.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Groundbreaking, very important work you're doing, Andrew. Look, it's a
cool thing to have it back in New Zealand for
just the second time out at Western Springs. All the
best for a wonderful couple of days and thanks for
stopping in for a chat.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Great and thank you for your interested in promoting the
event and encourage anyone who's listening to this is in
the area to come down, come down and check it
out and enjoy the festivities and no doubt enjoy some
great rugby.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk said B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
This weekend, the New Zealand Falcons are hosting the Purchase Cup,
the annual trans Tasman inclusive rugby tournament at Western Springs.
The Purchase Cup is named after Andrew Purchase, who founded
the Sydney Convicts Rugby Club, the first gay rugby union
club in Australia. He co founded Pride in Sport, the
world's first membership based program assisting sporting organizations with their
(00:35):
gender and sexuality diversity. He's the chair of its advisory committee.
In twenty seventeen, he was awarded a Medal of the
Order of Australia for services to rugby union and to
the promotion of social inclusion for the LGBTI community. Earlier
this year he was appointed to the Board of Commissioners
of the Australian Sports Commission. Andrew Purchase is in studio
(00:57):
with us. Thanks for stopping in, Andrew. How long has
the Purchase Cup tournament been going, Jason.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Great to be here and thank you for having me on.
The first iteration was in two thousand and four and
there have been fourteen different stagings of the event with
a varying number of clubs competing over that period.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How often has it been held here in New Zealand.
This is the.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Second time it was held here in twenty fifteen, not
long after the Falcons kind of re emerged as New
Zealand's LGBTI of gay football rugby club. They stayed a
really successful tournament and in fact they won they won
the Cup that year being the Sydney Comic. So I
(01:42):
was certainly certainly a great effort and they've been a
great club for a long time and you know, we're
really excited to be here and they've put an enormous
amount of work to make this. I think the fourteenth
iteration of the event probably the best ever. And I
think we've got the most teams competing with six clubs
from Australia and New Zealand and eight teams in total
to be participating over the next couple of days.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
How competitive is it?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Very All of the players really want to take over
the cup. So there are two divisions. There's the Cup
and the Shield division. And you know, the Cup is
for the it's kind of the premiere competition and the
Shield is the sort of second second competition. I think
one of the things that's been really pleasing with Gain
(02:30):
inclusive rugby has been, you know, the ability for clubs
to have multiple sides and actually been in a position
to be able to provide an opportunity for adults who
may not have played rugby before to actually learn the game.
And often you know, I think it's probably the same
in New Zealand, but in Australia, if you don't learn
as a as a kid at school or through junior
club rugby, it's often very difficult to learn as an adult.
(02:52):
But the gay, Gay and Inclusive teams have really made
an effort to create pathway pathways for people who want
to get involved in rugby where they can kind of
learn and develop the skills and learn how to play
a contact sport from scratch having had no experience. So
having two divisions provides the opportunity for clubs to have
(03:13):
those who have perhaps had some experience previously, have played
contact sport before, or are quick learners and can really
compete at a pretty high level. And then the shield
competition then, you know, provides the opportunity where teams of
a more equal standard and playing history can kind of
play it against each other, but regardless of the player's experience,
there's still a desire to want to do well. There's
(03:34):
still a desire to want to play rugby at a
high level and to kind and to win their games,
or at least to compete and to perform better than
they've better perform before.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
How much have numbers of gay and inclusive rugby players
grown in the last no, last decade, Let's say.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
The growth has been significant. My first involvement was back
in two thousand and one in San Francisco when gay
rugby was really just starting. I'd had a long rugby
background in Australia, playing club level and kind of community
based rugby. And then the first iteration of the Bingham Cup,
(04:18):
which is the World Cup of Gay Rugby. It started
in two thousand and two after the September eleven disaster
and it was founded by the San Francisco Fog. I
was living in San Francisco at the time, and it's
named after a guy called Mark Bingham who played with
the San Francisco Fog and I played with him the
(04:38):
first game that they competed in back in two thousand
and one, and he was one of the people who
were pretty sure was on that. Well, it was definitely
on the last plane that crashed. Two went in the
World Trades and one went into the Pentagon and that
plane crashed in the field in Pennsylvania, and we're very
confident that he was one of four people who overtook
the plane from the hijackers and crashed it into the field,
(05:01):
knowing that its intended destination was the White House. And
in honor of him, they started the BM Cup in
two thousand and two and there were six clubs competed,
eight teams all up, so that was the extent of
pretty much gay rugby around the world. Then we now
have about one hundred and fifty plus gay rugby clubs
(05:21):
around the world. The tenth the iteration of the BEM
Cup was held in Rome last year and I think
there are one hundred and fifty odd teams competing. So
around the world we've seen a significant increase in gay
and inclusive rugby, which has been fantastic in our region
in Australasia, you know, we've slowly developed more clubs. We
(05:43):
now have clubs from Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and
of course the wonderful New Zealand Falcons.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
When you were awarded the Middle of Order of Australia
in twenty seventeen, you said, despite significant social advances and
the recognition of rights of gay and transgender people, discrimination
and sport continues to be both common and damaging. Have
things improved in the eight years since?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yes? I think yes, definitely things have improved. I think
back in back around that period, in the mid noughties,
or around twenty fourteen twenty fifteen, at least in Australia,
I think New Zealand was probably ahead of us. Very
little had been done in the sporting environment. Significant progress
had been made in the corporate and business world. But
(06:33):
when we hosted the Bingham Cup in twenty fourteen, we
decided to put a real focus on LGBTI inclusion in
sport and we looked at the four football codes AFL, soccer,
rugby union, rugby league and cricket and none of them
had inclusion policies. They all had anti discrimination and anti
vilification policies, but none of them had made any positive
steps to recognize that there was a real barrier for
(06:57):
same sex attracted and tend to diverse people to actually
participate in sport, and we've seen a significant improvement, but
you know, still we've a long, long, long way to go.
If we just look at the number of our male
players across those codes, you know, it's virtually none. You know,
there've been a couple of high profile ex all blacks
(07:17):
who have come out over the last couple of years,
which has been fantastic, you know, recently in the Aflquacha
with the made news here, made news here, but Mitch
Brown came out he retired probably ten years ago. He
came out as bisexual, and that caused you know, significant
amount of interest. But I think the interest almost indicates
kind of how novel it is and how we've still
(07:39):
got a long way to go to create an environment
where people feel very well, people feel comfortable to express
their sexuality and also play sport. And I think a
consequence of that is there's been significant amount of self
selecting along the way. You know, some of the research
we did around the time of the Bingham Cup twenty
fourteen really indicated that the gay men, in particular, their
(08:02):
aversion to playing sport or feeling involved in sport is
very early and sometimes and it often starts at school
and pe classes. So I think where there's an awareness
of that there's a lot of work to do, and
there has been a lot of focus on it. We're
still a long way from being in a position where
the likes of the clubs that are competing in Auckland
(08:23):
in this weekend wouldn't necessarily need to exist.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Groundbreaking, very important work you're doing, Andrew. Look, it's a
cool thing to have it back in New Zealand for
just the second time out at Western Springs. All the
best for a wonderful couple of days and thanks for
stopping in for a chat.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Great and thank you for your interested in promoting the
event and encourage anyone who's listening to this is in
the area to come down, come down and check it
out and enjoy the festivities and no doubt enjoy some
great rugby.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk said B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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