Who are we?

Part of the team, we are much more!

Part of the team at Union Cup 2011. There's many more of us!


Straffe Ketten R.F.C. is the first rugby team (mostly) made up of gay men in Belgium. We want to give everybody the opportunity to discover this great sport in a fun, social and inclusive environment. The goal of the club is twofold: bring rugby to a new audience, and help fight prejudice, on our modest scale.

Why a gay rugby team?

The world of rugby isn't particularly homophobic, but maybe you've heard that "rugby isn't for sissies" or something similar: it's a manly* sport, for real guys. And maybe that stopped you from playing rugby.

That's why we created the team: we perceived a lot of interest for rugby in the gay community in Brussels, but very few guys actually attempted to join a rugby club. We wanted to offer gay men (and their friends) a "safe" opportunity to start playing a sport that they would not otherwise have seriously considered.

* So manly, in fact, that thousands of women play rugby all over the world. 

Who's in the team?

We have around 45 registered players, gay and straight, from over 15 nationalities*, young and… still young. Some of us have a lot of experience, but most of the guys had never played rugby before joining the team. A real sense of brotherhood has developed within the team, it's become like a big & fun family for some.

You can see some of the guys in this thank-you video – can you recognise all languages?

The Straffe Ketten staff:

  • Coach: Didier Vercruysse (Kituro)
  • Chairman: Jean-Yves Lestienne (Kituro/BGRC)
  • Vice-chairman: Chris Yarsley
  • Treasurer: Koen Verdoodt
  • And board members Arnaud Grisard, Iker Ortiz de Arri, Jens Popelier and Nordine Cherifi, in charge of communication, sponsorship, events, etc.

* Straffe Ketten, past and present, come from: Argentina, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela

What does the team do?

We are a real rugby team, so training and playing matches (against gay teams as well as "regular" teams) are our primary goal. But we also are a very social rugby club: we organise parties, we invite and host other gay rugby teams, we hang out as a team or head to the beach in the summer, etc … Every season we travel to take part in major gay rugby events.

Besides a dozen matches against Belgian teams, since April 2010 we've traveled to Lisbon, Amsterdam, Paris and Edinburgh to play against other rugby teams; we've hosted most of those teams, and we were the first to invite the Stockholm Berserkers. We've organised three big parties, with more to come in 2012. And of course we made a sexy photo calendar :-)

"Straffe Ketten" ???

In Flemish Brussels dialect, a "ket" is a guy from Brussels, and a "straffe ket" is a tough Brussels boy :)