Plymouth Dolphins – How inclusive rugby club is aiming to try and grow the game

“It’s honestly the best decision which I’ve ever made, I’ll never regret my choice for doing it,” says flanker Jack Adams.

Having heard about the team through a work colleague Adams joined Plymouth Dolphins RFC in September last year, despite some initial nerves.

And having not played rugby since secondary school, after his first couple of training sessions he was hooked and within a fortnight he was making a try-scoring debut.

“I would cancel or rearrange plans just so I could come here every week,” he tells BBC South West.

“I feel a lot fitter – I’ve definitely got more into shape. And in general I just feel a lot better.

“I’ve made a lot of new friends, I’ve got a nice support group now, everyone’s here for each other if you ever need someone to chat to.”

Plymouth Dolphins were formed in 2021 after the experience of the Coronavirus pandemic led to chair Martin Rodham and some of his friends to want to create a LGBTQ+ friendly sports club to bring people together.

They welcome “those of all backgrounds, identities and ability” and have been going from strength to strength since those early post-pandemic days.

“We wanted to set up a team that was slightly different to probably what people perceive as a rugby team,” says Rodham.

“The four people that set it up are in the LGBTQ+ community and we wanted that safe space for people to come and be able to train, to play rugby.”

And it seems to be working – the Dolphins are currently top of the UK Southern Merit League, one of the leagues run in England by International Gay Rugby (IGR), the umbrella organisation for the world’s gay and inclusive rugby clubs.

IGR currently lists 29 English clubs on their website, with the teams then split into geographical leagues.

The Dolphins, who play their home matches at Plympton Victoria RFC, are on a four-match winning streak in the league this season, with two wins against Brighton and Hove Sea Serpents, and victories over Reading Renegades and Kings Cross Steelers.

But their ambition does not end with doing well in this country, they are aiming to attend the Bingham Cup in Rome in May 2024, an event which brings together inclusive rugby clubs from around the world to compete for the championship trophy.

It is a biannual event created in memory of Mark Bingham, who died on board United Airlines Flight 93 in the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Bingham was a University of California rugby player who co-founded an inclusive rugby team in Manhattan. Since the first Bingham Cup in 2002 it has become one of the largest amateur rugby union tournaments in the world – in 2018, 74 teams from 20 countries gathered in Amsterdam.

“It would be a brilliant time and I just want these guys to experience it,” says Rodham.

New members are always welcome at the club and they do not need to…