Sport

Gay Sports Day to return this year following London Olympics

May 30 2012
Written by Stephen Gray

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

The Gay Sports Day will return for 2012, slipping in to the capital’s summer’s calendar between the London Olympic and Paralympic Games on the August Bank Holiday.

Raising funds for gay men’s health charity GMFA, the 2012 event will be the sixth annual collaboration between the charity and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

The Vauxhall Sports Day will see the handbag toss, the 50m mince and the Space Hopper relay making their return to south London in the Olympic year.

Matthew Hodson, Head of Programmes at GMFA, commented: “I’m hoping that this year’s Sports Day will give us the opportunity to celebrate a record medal haul from the actual Olympics but if Team GB doesn’t triumph for any reason… well the Sports Day can cheer us all up again. This year we reckon we’re going to have our biggest Sports Day ever, so expect more fun, frolics and frivolity, and plenty of surprises.”

Last year, Prime Minister David Cameron mentioned the event, which has been running since the 1980s while discussing homophobia in sport on PinkNews.co.uk.

Writing for PinkNews.co.uk, he commented: “Sport is part of the DNA of this nation; I don’t just mean athletes and teams competing at an elite level, I also mean the events that bring communities together – whether it’s the egg and spoon race at your child’s school or Vauxhall’s gay sports day when you can witness competitive handbag throwing or literal drag racing.”

Each team of five collects sponsorship for the event, with a minimum of £500 expected for each team. There will be three trophies: one for the winning team, one for the team that raises the most money and one for the team with the best outfits.

Money raised will fund GMFA’s work on HIV prevention and sexual health, support for gay men living with HIV and self-defence. It will also support the community in Vauxhall through funding for the Vauxhall City Farm and The Friends of Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, which helps maintain the land where Sports Day takes place.

Mr Hodson added: “Sports Day is all about fun, celebration and giving back to the community. We’re expecting regular teams from previous years as well as plenty of new faces, all competing for glory. So whether you want to show off your sporting prowess, your finest fancy dress, or just to cheer from the sidelines, we hope to see you there.”

To register a team for the event on Bank Holiday Monday, 27 August 2012, visit www.gmfa.org.uk/sportsday.