Despite setbacks, Eamonn Ashton-Atkinson’s moving film about his gay rugby team could not be more relevant
Eammon Ashton-Atkinson’s film about the gay rugby team of which he is a member is not all it seems. The action nominally follows just three days of competition as London’s Kings Cross Steelers – the world’s first out squad, founded in 1995 – take part in the world’s largest LGBTQ+ rugby competition, the Bingham Cup.
But this is no normal sports movie. Rather, it’s a gentle, funny and frequently moving exploration of gay identity today. Of how sporting personas are – and are not – affected by sexuality. Of the tensions that can emerge when a group bound by one commonality are driven apart by others. Of what happens to your toes if you spend half your time on the pitch and half – like star player and part-time drag queen Drewalicious – in wincingly tall stilettos.
