The Spartans' second season was played entirely in friendlies, and ended with a trophy carried home from Washington DC.
October brought a first home fixture at Old Salians and a visit to the Washington Renegades. January brought the Renegades and the San Francisco Fog to Manchester for a Birthday Bash and a 37–5 win. May brought a 46–15 defeat of the Kings Cross Steelers and victory in the first tournament international gay rugby ever sanctioned.
The Spartans’ second season was played entirely in friendlies, and ended with the club’s A team winning the first tournament that international gay rugby ever sanctioned.
In October 2000 the Spartans played their Hulme Hall friends again and improved on previous meetings, losing 6–42. It was the first time the club had managed to invite visitors to its new home base at Old Salians RUFC, and the first time it could offer them food and drink in the clubhouse afterwards.
Later that month a group of around eight Spartans travelled to Washington DC to visit the Washington Renegades. They took part in the Renegades’ rugby practice and ran one of the sessions themselves to teach some new coaching techniques. The Renegades showed great hospitality, hosting the individual Spartans in their own homes, taking them out to the bars and even taking them to a gay roller-skating night. There were sight-seeing trips around Washington, Baltimore and New York City. No matches were played, but a relationship with another gay rugby team was established.
The final fixture of 2000 came in December, a friendly against a team of selected Old Salians players who featured in “Ally’s All-Stars”. The Spartans lost 28–0, but it was a good way for all the players to mark the end of the year in which the two clubs had come together and formed a partnership.
The Spartans were coming towards the end of their second year of existence and, to help celebrate the upcoming birthday, they hosted a Birthday Bash weekend and invited players from the Washington Renegades and a new team on the scene, the San Francisco Fog. Between 25 and 29 January 2001 the Spartans put the visitors up in their own homes and planned a weekend of rugby and partying. A trip to Chester on the Friday was followed by rugby coaching on the Saturday and a mad night out. All turned up on the Sunday ready to play a match between the Spartans and a combined Renegades and Fog team. The Spartans won 37–5, in what was historically the first international rugby match between two gay rugby teams from two different countries. On the Sunday evening the club held its second birthday party at the Hollywood Showbar, where the American visitors helped celebrate the Spartans’ creation and achievements.
Around this time the club decided to update its rugby kit with a brand new design. It was inspired by the gay community’s rainbow flag, the colours on the shirt mixing into each other in horizontal lines, red at the top, then orange, then yellow, then green. The shorts were blue and the socks purple. How a group of 20 gay men ever managed to agree on a completely new kit design is a miracle.
On 16 February 2001 the Manchester Evening News published an article about the club under the headline “Game Boys”.
On 5 May 2001 the Spartans hosted the Kings Cross Steelers and were triumphant against them again, winning 46–15.
After their trip to Manchester in January, the Washington Renegades were inspired to host their new friends and play some rugby on their own turf. Between 18 and 20 May 2001 the Spartans travelled to Washington DC for the Renegades’ Invitational Rugby Sevens Tournament, entering two seven-a-side teams for the first time. The Kings Cross Steelers also sent two teams, and there were sides from the Renegades, the Fog and a new club from Buenos Aires, with a Barbarians team drawn from players at other clubs completing the line-up. This was the first tournament sanctioned by IGRAB, the International Gay Rugby Association and Board, and it was won by the Manchester Village Spartans A team, who beat the Fog in the final. The B team beat the Steelers A team to come third. Among the Fog players the Spartans met that weekend was Mark Bingham.
The second Annual Dinner, held a few weeks after the tournament, was a chance to celebrate another most successful year. At the second Annual General Meeting in July 2001 new members were elected to the committee, and the membership voted to become more competitive and to seek membership of the Cheshire Rugby Union.
After two seasons of friendlies arranged one at a time, the club had voted to go looking for a union.
Matches
5 matches on record. Source: the club's own fixtures page, captured October 2002.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Oct 2000 | Spartans 1XV | 6 – 42 | Hulme Hall |
| 01 Dec 2000 | Ally's All Stars | 28 – 0 | Spartans 1XV |
| 10 Mar 2001 | Spartans 1XV | 0 – 35 | Hulme Hall |
| 01 Apr 2001 | Salians | 26 – 5 | Spartans 1XV |
| 05 May 2001 | Spartans 1XV | 46 – 15 | Kings Cross Steelers |
Manchester Invitational 2001
1 match on record. Source: the club's own fixtures page, captured October 2002.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Jan 2001 | Spartans 1XV | 37 – 5 | Washington Renegades and San Francisco Fog |
Washington Invitational Sevens 2001
1 match on record, 0 of them with a score. Source: the club's own fixtures page, captured October 2002.
| Date | Home | Score | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 20 May 2001 | Spartans | Tournament | Washington Renegades |
| Team | Award | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| First XV | Players Player | Ian MacDonald |
| Most Improved | Chris Coombes | |
| Club | Queens Boots | Duncan Leckie |
| Group | Role | Name |
|---|---|---|
| Committee | Chair | Simon Stanley |
| Captains | First XV Captain | Neil Mason |
Simon Stanley was elected Chair at the AGM of 20 May 2000, taking over from Duncan Leckie, and held the office through this season.
Spartans 1XV6 – 42Hulme Hall
The third meeting with Hulme Hall and much the closest, and the first time the club was able to invite visitors to its new home at Old Salians and offer them food and drink in the clubhouse.
Ally's All Stars28 – 0Spartans 1XV
A friendly against a side of selected Old Salians players, and the last fixture of 2000. A good way for both clubs to end the year in which they came together.
Spartans 1XV0 – 35Hulme Hall
Played at the Salians ground at Sale Sports Club, which by this season was the Spartans' home as well.
Salians26 – 5Spartans 1XV
Both clubs played at Sale Sports Club, so a Spartans match against Old Salians is technically home and away at once. The fixture list gives Salians as the home side.
Spartans 1XV46 – 15Kings Cross Steelers
The third annual meeting with the Steelers, played in the sun in the new kit funded by the LGF Community Development Fund. The series stood at one game each. It was closely fought in the first half before the Spartans pulled clear to 46 to 15, taking the series two to one, and going on to the sevens in Washington on the back of it.
Spartans 1XV37 – 5Washington Renegades and San Francisco Fog
Played at Sale Sports Club on the weekend the club turned two, against a combined side of Washington Renegades and San Francisco Fog players. This was historically the first international rugby match between two gay rugby teams from different countries, and the first time the Americans came to Manchester.
The visitors were put up in Spartans homes from 25 to 29 January. A trip to Chester on the Friday was followed by rugby coaching on the Saturday and a night out, and everybody turned up on the Sunday to play. The Spartans won 37 to 5, and that evening hosted a second birthday party at the Hollywood Showbar.
The Washington Renegades were inspired to return the invitation, and the Spartans travelled to their Invitational Sevens that May.
The club's own fixture list records this result the other way round. The club's written history is clear that the Spartans won it, and the club were the hosts, so the history is followed here.
SpartansTournamentWashington Renegades
The Spartans A team won the tournament, beating the San Francisco Fog in the final, and the B team beat the Steelers A team to finish third. It was the first tournament sanctioned by the International Gay Rugby Association and Board, and David Smyth, who coached the side, recorded it as the World Sevens championship.
The club entered two seven a side teams for the first time. The Steelers also sent two, and there were sides from the Renegades, the Fog, a new club from Buenos Aires and a Barbarians team drawn from across the other clubs.
The club's own fixture list gives the date as 1 May 2001. The club's written history gives 18 to 20 May 2001, which is followed here because it also places the trip after the Steelers match of 5 May.
