Les Valent's, a Montpellier team that shone at the LGBTQIA+ world championships

Les Valent's de Montpellier ont brillé à la Bingham Cup, à Rome, le week-end dernier. DR

Les Valent's de Montpellier, une équipe de rugby inclusive, ont participé aux championnats du monde LGBTQIA+ le week-end dernier.

They are pharmacists, physiotherapists, lawyers, craftsmen, entrepreneurs… And they share a common passion: rugby, and everything that goes with it. Are we going to bring out the cliché of oval values ​​again ? Yes. Because this is what the Valent's of Montpellier, this leisure and inclusive team created in 2004, emit. 

His goal: to fight against homophobia by playing rugby. "No matter who you are, you are there to play rugby. What we want is to come together", assures Corentin De Rasilly, 35 years old, hooker of the team since 2019. The Valents define themselves as a "gay and straight-friendly team", that is to say that everyone is invited to come and defend this cause simply by putting on crampons.

In Montpellier, the players meet once a week, use the infrastructures of RC Jacou and face other teams in the city such as the partners of the MHR, a team of physiotherapists or the Crès club, forming a small championship. The rules ? The same as in rugby union. 

"The communion was fabulous"

Last weekend, the Valent's had a mission: to represent Montpellier at the Bingham Cup, a biennial world championship for LGBTQIA+ and inclusive rugby clubs. Twenty-five brave people met in Rome, the venue of the competition, to seek the Holy Grail in an event bringing together 90 teams. A women's tournament was played in parallel, too.

"We played six matches in four days. And each game is played in two twenty-minute halves", says Corentin. As a result, the Valent's finished 6th with a prestigious group success against the reigning world champions, the Kingcross Steelers of London. The performance was beautiful, as was the party which accompanied their stay . 

But the important thing was elsewhere. "What's fantastic is the tolerance and respect that reigned off the field. Upwind, it was easy. But outside, the communion was fabulous. The world champions are French, the Gaillards de Paris. 150 of us found ourselves on the lawn, singing the Marseillaise. I still have chills", enjoy "Coco". 

The experience was unique. Next deadline, the European Championships in Oslo next year. Les Valent's has already taken place.

I subscribe to read more