Do you remember the 21st night of September? Who cares…. the most memorable night of this year has been the 5th of June at East London Rugby club, but perhaps you had too many fresh pints or jelly shots to remember singing Britney Spears in front of 200 odd people.
The East London Try Tag Rugby Pride 2026 Tournament was an evening of rainbow cupcakes, painted faces, top notch tag rugby and an after party that continued to the very early hours of the morning.
This year we were joined by 16 teams, four more than last year; including three individual teams and a team that flew all the way from Dublin Ireland for the tournament.
We are incredibly proud of the Pride tournament, all the players and people who made the tournament what it was… all in all we have raised a whopping £1818 for charity!!
This tournament raised funds for Terrence Higgins Trust who are tirelessly working towards eradicating stigma surrounding HIV, supporting those who have a positive diagnosis and trying to prevent new cases of HIV by 2030.
We had awards for best dressed, the vibiest vibe, best celebration, biggest dick of the day, ref of the tournament, the joue joure – the player with the most flare. We saw extra points awarded to players for gooseys and attempted goosies. For dancing over the try lines and cold hard celebrations.
The games saw a mash of experienced players and absolute newbies take to the pitch in fancy dress, adjourned with rainbows and glitter. Two setting their way to the trylines. As we wanted this tournament to feel as inclusive as we could, all players were coined as 1 pointers but players were also able to gather more points while showing flair, dance moves or collaborative celebrations to gather more points throughout the games.
The most important game of the tournament game down to a wheel barrow competition against every team’s elected dick of the day and player of the tournament. The winning team walked away a with custom TTR boot bags (ohhhh ahhh so stylish).
A per usual there were winning teams for the Shield, Bowl, Plate and Cup. Our Winner’s were as follows, these team took home TTR water bottles and the best prosecco Lidl can buy:
Shield – Electric Vixens
Bowl – Atlas Hurricanes
Plate – The Gagger’s
Cup – The Fabulubos
This tournament raised funds for Terrence Higgins Trust who are tirelessly working towards to eradicate stigma surrounding HIV, supporting those who have a positive diagnosis and trying to prevent new cases of HIV by 2030.
In true East London style we had a bake sale with loaded cookies, brownies, the best caramel slice you’ve ever tasted (attested to by 4 aussies), focaccia and rainbow butter cream cupcakes. The cupcake sale alone raised 458£
Big up to East London Rugby club for hosting us and letting us party all night long in the kitted out club room (especially to the bar staff that had to list to us sing hours on end). And to Octopus Legacy, who donated pink fluffy octopuses for prizes and conversation cards for the teams to bond over while having a pint. Also a big thanks to our wonderful referees Kirsty, PHoebe, Nathan and Matthew who without we wouldn’t be able to have a game #respecttheyellow
ALSO a huge shout out to Tom Lynch from The Craic Dealer’s who not only won most flare on pitch, but also took it upon himself to be the MC of the night as the karaoke grand master. He slayed which is not a surprise as I am told he is one of Dublin’s best drag performers , we were lucky enough for the Queen to grace us with her presence.
Post games the karaoke was cranking, the dance floor was vibes and the pints / baby guinness shots were being poured fast and constant.
We can not wait for next, what would you want to see more of?