Sports
A busy season for Federal Triangles
From Gay Games to new summer league, local soccer team thriving
The Federal Triangles Soccer Club expanded with new men’s and women’s teams in the spring. Find out more at federaltriangles.org. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Majoros)
Editor’s note: This new local sports column will appear twice each month and feature profiles of D.C.-area LGBT sports teams as well as news from around the leagues. Send your sports-related tips to [email protected].
Washington, D.C. is home to one of the largest and most organized LGBT sports communities in the world. Team DC, the clearinghouse organization for D.C. metropolitan LGBT sports, is currently listing 30 teams/clubs on its roster.
One of the most visible clubs on the roster is the Federal Triangles Soccer Club (FTSC). After reaching a pinnacle in 2009 by hosting the highly successful IGLFA World Championships, the team has continued to grow and evolve. Last spring, the club fielded a new men’s and a new women’s team bringing their total to four men’s league teams and four women’s league teams. They also fielded five coed teams in the spring.
Some of the 2010 highlights for the Triangles:
FTSC Summer of Freedom League Presented by DC Councilmember Jim Graham
The D.C. area’s first ever LGBT soccer league kicks off on July 6, 2010 at the Metro-accessible Bell Field in Columbia Heights. Nick Napolitano, communications director for the FTSC stated, “There are only a handful of LGBT soccer leagues in the world, so this is a noteworthy milestone not just for the Triangles, but for the LGBT sports community in D.C.”
This is essentially an intra-club league, but registration is individual and the players will be placed on one of eight teams. The league organizers are forming rosters that are balanced by skill, gender and positions. Registration for this groundbreaking league is nearly full; however the league is still accepting substitutes and replacement players.
Rehoboth Beach Classic XII Coed Tournament, July 3
If you are at the beach this weekend, check out the FTSC as they host this annual coed social soccer extravaganza. There is an opening night party at The Double L on Friday, July 2, and tournament play is scheduled for July 3 at Rehoboth Beach Elementary School.
Night Out with the DC United
The FTSC has organized the first ever Night Out with the DC United at RFK Stadium on September 25, against the Houston Dynamo. Premium individual tickets are $20 (almost half the usual $36 price). Ticket prices decrease to $18 each for a block of 10, and to $16 each for a block of 25 or more. Stay tuned for more details of this event.
Women’s Winter Indoor Wrap-Up Cup
This tournament represents another first for the FTSC. In late March this year, the FTSC organized an all-ladies indoor event at the Rockville Sportsplex. Eight teams from D.C. and Philadelphia clashed and the event was considered a huge success. It will likely be repeated in 2011.
Pick-Up
Pick-up play near the National Mall is the Triangle’s baseline activity. Sunday pick-up happens year-round and Wednesday pick-up starts in the spring and ends in the late fall. Pick-up play is open to people of all genders, skill levels and orientations. Bring a dark or white shirt as teams are divided in that manner. No gray or pastel color shirts. Cleats and shin guards are strongly suggested. A map showing the location is available on the website. For more information, contact Tom at [email protected]. (Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.
Charitable Outreach
The Triangles have been involved with several local and international charitable causes over the years. Two recent efforts involve the Building Bridges program in South Africa and the Remote Villages Project in Honduras. Through fundraising efforts, the FTSC has helped to provide soccer supplies to impoverished communities in both South Africa and Honduras.
2010 Gay Games in Cologne, Germany
The FTSC is sending nine men and one woman to the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne, which begin July 31, 2010. Jim Ensor, president of the FTSC stated, “The men will partner with an Irish team, the Dublin Devils FC to form the Devil’s Triangles. The woman, Sami Holtz, will play with the Chicago team.” Go Triangles!
Kevin Majoros has been a member of the District of Columbia Aquatics Club since 1996 and a Team DC board member since 2006. Reach him at [email protected].
Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.
Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”
Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.
FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”
Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.
“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”
“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”
Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.
“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.
The Baltimore Orioles will take on the Washington Nationals on Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. for Pride Night at Oriole Park.
The first 15,000 fans will receive an exclusive Pride Night Orioles jersey. The Washington Blade is a media sponsor of this event.
To purchase tickets, visit Orioles.com/Tickets.
Sports
Minor league team in York, Pa., forfeits Pride Night game after some players refuse to wear special jersey
City is roughly 20 miles north of Md. border
An independent minor league baseball team says it is forfeiting a game because some of its players refused to wear a special Pride Night jersey.
The Atlantic League Pro Baseball’s York Revolution were planning to hold their 11th annual Pride Night event Thursday for a game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.
But the Revolution announced the day of the game that it wouldn’t be played. York is about 20 miles north of the Maryland line. The Blue Crabs play in Waldorf.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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