Formed in August 2003, the Emerald Warriors have a long history of providing an open, inclusive and safe environment for LGBTQ+ people to play and enjoy rugby in Ireland. We chatted with them about their tag rugby team Naoise, a space that provides a more accessible way to play rugby.

“Our vision is to be the leading inclusive club where our members and allies can enjoy the benefits of rugby,” said Emerald Warriors Club President Richie Fagan. “That’s why adding tag rugby to our offering in 2021 represented a major leap forward for the club.”

For those who are not familiar with tag rugby, the fundamental objective of the game is to score more points than your opponent by carrying the ball over the opposition try-line and placing it on the ground. However, instead of tackling, players tag the opposition, making it more accessible while maintaining the excitement of a sport where speed and agility are key.

Squads can include up to 14 people, and the Emerald Warriors’ tag team, Naoise, fields mixed teams, meaning that there are usually four men+ and three women+ on the pitch at a time.

“We already welcome people of different ages, abilities, and levels of experience to play rugby,” Richie noted. “But we established Naoise to create a new avenue for people to become part of the community. Since Naoise is a unisex name, which refers to a young warrior in Irish, it’s a fitting choice to refer to our non-contact offering as an LGBTQ+ rugby club.”

Sharing his own experience, Alan McArthur said that he was initially hesitant about trying tag, given that he had never played rugby before. However, since joining the Emerald Warriors’ team, he hasn’t looked back. “The Naoise team welcomed me with open arms,” he said. “I’ve met some amazing people from my community, and if I second guess myself whether I belong, my team always has my back.”

Emerald Warrior’s Naoise has grown in scale and ambition since it came 14th out of 16 in the Autumn League in Drumcondra in 2021. Now, the club includes three tag teams, two playing in TUD Grangegorman on Wednesdays, and another playing in UCD on Thursdays.

As captain, Alan’s ambition is to “take the skills that each of our players bring and combine them to build a strong core team. By uniting our strengths and supporting each other, with plenty of laughs, we improved throughout our last season. I look forward to building on this momentum for future seasons to come.”

One of the other teams is Naoise Coral, captained by Anna Farrell, which recently won the Division 1 Super Bowl Final. This was only one in a string of successes, including reaching the bowl semi-final at Portugal Beach Tag hosted by Cork Tag; competing in the Division 2 Plate semi-final at Pig ‘n’ Porter hosted by ITRA in Limerick; and winning the Pride Tag Tournament hosted by fellow LGBTQ+ Club the Cork Hellhounds, supported by the IRFU and Munster Rugby.

“In the last 12 months, Naoise has grown into three amazing competitive teams,” another player, Megan O’Mahony, added. “Next steps will be to bring in formal training more regularly, and by 2025, we hope to have a Naoise team to enter into a premiership league.”

Sharing the ethos that is at the core of the Emerald Warriors, Naoise is not only a tag team, but also a social hub for the queer community. People who join the teams have an opportunity to meet other LGBTQ+ folk weekly, as well as enjoy a growing number of opportunities to travel together for tag tournaments both nationally and internationally.

Megan explained, “I moved to Dublin in June 2022. After six months living here, I felt that I was missing a community. So I decided to look for a sport that meant I could exercise and meet like-minded people and find that community I felt I was missing.

“I was always a fan of watching contact rugby so myself and another friend decided to join Emerald Warriors as they had a tag rugby team, and are also LGBTQ+ inclusive.”

If you wish to know more about tag rugby and the teams, you now have the chance to attend the Naoise Summer Series. As explained by Richie, “this social tag event is a great way to experience what we’ve to offer, which is an incomparable way to have fun through team sports with members of the LGBTQ+ community and our allies.”

The Naoise Summer Series started on August 9 and runs until August 30. You can join every Friday evening, from 7pm to 9pm, in TUD Grangegorman. No experience in rugby or other sports is needed to join the Series, as the Emerald Warriors will be there to explain the rules of the game to newcomers, who will be supported by their member volunteers.

If you wish to find out more about the work the Emerald Warriors do to make rugby more inclusive in Ireland, email them at [email protected] or follow them on Instagram.