Soccer: the IGLFA Unity Cup

01The tournament

Soccer at the 2017 Games was run as the IGLFA Unity Cup, named after the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association. The official page placed the group games at Kendall Soccer Park in south-west Miami-Dade and the finals at Flamingo Park in Miami Beach. Its draft schedule ran preliminary rounds on 29 and 30 May and 1 June, with a rest or rain day on 31 May, playoffs on 2 June and finals on 3 June.

The page also marked an anniversary. 2017 was IGLFA’s 25th year, and a “Silver Party” was advertised alongside the finals to celebrate it.

02The two grounds

The two venues were far apart. Kendall Soccer Park, at 8011 SW 127th Avenue, lies inland in the Kendall area of Miami-Dade, with parking on site. The official directions sent teams from Miami International Airport west on the Dolphin Expressway and south on Florida’s Turnpike, roughly 13 miles of motorway before the last turns. Flamingo Park, at 1200 Meridian Avenue, belongs to the City of Miami Beach and was kept for the finals, so the medal games were set for Miami Beach itself. At the first World Outgames in Montréal in 2006, by comparison, soccer was spread across various city parks, according to Wikipedia.

The page’s summary box gave slightly different times from the draft schedule: play from 28 May to 1 June between 8 am and 7 pm, and from 11 am to 9 pm on 2 June. A note warned that the tournament director could change the schedule and that final schedules would follow once registration closed. Later in 2017 the page showed registration as closed.

03Divisions and rules

The tournament offered women’s and men’s/mixed divisions: a competitive 11-a-side Division 1 and a recreational Division 2 in 7-a-side and 11-a-side formats. An 11-a-side roster needed 11 to 20 players and a 7-a-side roster 7 to 13, with up to three non-playing coaches. Men’s/mixed teams could include women; women’s divisions were for players who identify as female. Medals were to go to the top three in each division.

Matches were to be played under FIFA laws combined with IGLFA’s own tournament rules. Round-robin games in both divisions had 35-minute halves and medal games 45-minute halves, with a five-minute break, and playoff matches had to produce a winner. The general rule set a minimum of 30 minutes per half for 11-a-side and 20 minutes for 7-a-side, so the Miami format went beyond the minimum. Protests had to be made in writing within an hour of the match with a $50 cash fee, returned if the protest was upheld. Disputes outside the local committee’s remit went to IGLFA’s own protest committee, chaired by the association’s vice-president and including a host committee representative, IGLFA’s director of referees and a player not involved in the case.

IGLFA’s rules also reached beyond the pitch. The Games’ gender identification policy listed IGLFA documents among its resources, next to the U.S. Soccer transgender policy.

04Registered teams

The official page listed the teams registered before the tournament. Division 1 men’s/mixed had six: London/Toronto Stonewall FC, Los Dogos Argentina, Seattle Stonewall F.C., Selección Argentina Futbolistas Gay, Stockholm Snipers and Sydney Rangers FC.

AI

Division 2 men’s/mixed was twice the size, with twelve entries: Burkina Initiative, DIDESEX México, Lobos Mexico, two London Titans sides, Philadelphia Falcons, San Diego Sparks, SF Spikes, Shooting Stars FC, Storm United, Village Manchester Football Club and Zorros Mexico. One team, Malideni, was listed in the women’s Division 1.

Clubs on the list came from Argentina, Australia, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, among other places, and London and Mexico each sent more than one side.

05Exempted from the cancellation

When most of the sports programme was cancelled on 26 May 2017, soccer was one of three exceptions, with aquatics and country-western dance. Wikipedia explains why. IGLFA, like the aquatics association, organised its event as part of its own annual championship and had kept the Miami organisers at arm’s length, so the tournament did not depend on them.

Football also featured at the Human Rights Conference that weekend. IGLFA organised a panel there on LGBTQI rights and advocacy, and the FARE network, which works against discrimination in football, hosted a panel on homophobia in the game in Latin America.

Both Windy City Times and the organisers’ own statement named soccer among the exceptions. The event website does not record the final results. The full story of the cancellation is on the Miami 2017 page.

06Frequently asked questions