John O'Sullivanhears from Barry Meegan about the fourth staging of the Gay Rugby World Cup

THE 2008 Bingham Cup is set to ramp up the camp on the Dublin City University campus this weekend when 32 teams from around the world take to the field in what is ubiquitously billed as the Gay Rugby World Cup.

The tournament honours Mark Kendall Bingham, a 31-year-old American who died on September 11th, 2001, on board United Airlines flight 93.

He is believed to have been among the passengers who stormed the cockpit to prevent the hijackers from killing thousands of innocent people.

In a mobile phone call shortly before the plane went down Bingham told his mother, Alice Hoagland, "Some of us are going to try and do something." He received various posthumous honours and Melissa Etheridge dedicated the song Tuesday Morning to his memory.

The 6ft 4in, 16-stone Bingham played for the University of California Berkeley rugby team before going on to found his own public relations company, the Bingham Group. In recognition of his selfless act the International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) inaugurated a biennial tournament in his name; the first staging was at his home club, the San Francisco Fog, in 2002.

The tournament has grown in terms of global impact and playing numbers, moving first to London (2004) and then New York (2006) before Dublin beat off strong competition from Paris and Sydney to host the event's fourth enactment.

On Tuesday morning Alice Bingham arrived in Dublin, a guest of the organisers. Among the official welcoming party was Barry Meegan, a representative of the Emerald Warriors, the team hosting the event - Ulster Titans are the other Irish side involved.

Founded in 2003, the Warriors have played in the last two Bingham Cups but given their added responsibility as hosts this time - endorsed by the IRFU - they elected to play competitive rugby from last September in the Leinster League J4 Division.

Meegan, the team's number eight and holder of the Mr Gay Ireland title, said the campaign had been a hugely positive affair.

"I never encountered any disparaging remarks from other teams, certainly not to our faces.

"I'd vouch that our pre-game talk was just as aggressive as our opponents'. I'm sure there was motivation for the other teams and they probably said that there was no way they were going to let a bunch of poofters beat them."

That calamitous vista for the heterosexual majority never materialised; the Emerald Warriors lost every match, though by season's end the improvement was noticeable, especially in a narrow Winters Cup defeat by Stillorgan RFC.

Meegan elaborated: "It was great to get a full season of contact rugby behind us . . . We didn't win any matches and might have ended up a bit battered and bruised but that season will stand to us at the weekend and beyond.

"There are one or two teams in the Bingham Cup that would play at J1 level and hopefully we will continue to progress towards that.

"To host this tournament is a huge honour (not least) in terms of putting us on the map as a new rugby club."

Given he encountered little derogatory feedback of a sexist kind on the field of play, Meegan's thoughts on the advertising campaign of the Bingham Cup's premier sponsor, Paddy Power, is interesting, particularly given the stereotypical slant.

One Bingham Cup advertisement depicts two pairs of hairy legs from the thigh down in a mock-up shower scene with a bar of soap on the ground and bears the slogan, "You too can be lucky." Another ad suggests "Fags are addictive".

Meegan laughs: "I think it's brilliant. I'm very much behind them in poking fun at the stereotypes. We have a number of mainstream sponsors, which shows how much the country has changed.

"Some of my straight friends will be a little taken aback at the ads. They are a little bit risque but it gets people talking and publicises the tournament. You can't be too precious. And remember that this tournament will be doing its bit for the Irish economy with over 700 players taking part."

On a personal level, Meegan took up the oval-ball game only last summer. He was due to hook up with the Warriors the previous year but was sidelined for six months with injury. His Monaghan childhood contained no rugby - he played a bit of basketball - but he always liked it.

"When I moved to Dublin about eight years ago I looked into the possibility of joining a club but was put off because I hadn't played the game before and didn't want to be laughed out of a place. Joining the Warriors appealed on several levels but primarily because there were others who didn't have that rugby pedigree."

Joining the Emerald Warriors also led to an off-the-pitch bonus; the club put him forward for the Mr Gay Ireland contest (he raised €2,000 for charity), which he won before going on to finish fourth at Mr Gay International.

He'll round off his year with the Mr Gay Europe event in Budapest in three weeks' time before as he puts it, "I hand back my tiara." And there aren't many number eights will put those last four words into a sentence.

The Bingham Cup is his immediate priority: "I had a quick look at some of the opposition and feel that we might have an advantage in terms of speed. We have improved a great deal over the past season and I think that anyone who underrates us might get a surprise. We have an opportunity to do our country proud and it would be particularly appropriate in Gay Pride week."

The three-day tournament begins tomorrow with all matches being played at DCU.

For more details of the draw and the competing teams go to www.binghamcup.com.