Rugby team of drag queens competes in charity game
Drag queens pose for a photo as they take part in charity rugby game (Facebook)
A rugby team full of drag queens took to the pitch last weekend in Wales to help raise funds for an important cause.
The Diff Drag, a team made up of Cardiff’s best-known drag queens, competed against gay rugby union team Cardiff Lions RFC to help raise funds for mental health charity Mind on Sunday.
The team of drag queens got ready at a local bar before making their way to the stadium in their outfits. They headed out onto the pitch to ‘Eye of the Tiger’.
Drag rugby event brings community together.
One of the drag queens, Mary Golds, told Wales Online that the event – which also took place last year – helps to bring their community together.
“It’s an amazing way of raising money,” Golds said. “Our community is massive so we should all support each other. It’s important to show that we can come together and talk to each other, social media is great but this is different.
“It’s not often drag queens come together and play rugby, in fact never, so why not come together and have a laugh?”
The money raised by Cardiff Lions RFC and the Diff Drag will help us to keep providing help and support for everyone with a mental health problem and Wales and we are truly grateful to them.
Drag queen Amber Dextrous said that they don’t tend to cross over with rugby players very often, but it’s important to “show support”.
“The event is open to everyone, we don’t want anyone to feel segregated. It has interested people because they don’t expect us to play rugby – that’s what makes it fun.
“No one is going on the pitch to kill the other player. We’re drag queens – we don’t take anything seriously.”
Mental health charity Mind ‘really grateful’ for support.
Meanwhile, Cardiff Lions RFC – which was admitted as a member of the international gay rugby association in 2006 – enjoyed the game. The team shared photos and videos on their Facebook page of the match and said they were “so proud” to be part of the event.
“Thank you to the drag queens of Cardiff for being such good sports and to all those supporters that came along,” the team wrote on Facebook.
Meanwhile, Lucy Lloyd, Senior Fundraising Officer for Mind Cymru, said they are “really grateful” to Cardiff Lions RFC and the Diff Drag.
“One in four of us will experience a mental health problem in any given year, and it’s vitally important that we open up and talk about how we’re feeling,” Lloyd said.
“Strong support networks can make a real difference to people’s lives and Cardiff Lions RFC and the Diff Drag are great examples of that.
“The money raised by Cardiff Lions RFC and the Diff Drag will help us to keep providing help and support for everyone with a mental health problem and Wales and we are truly grateful to them.”
