Tel Aviv Ibex
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 | |
| Full name | Tel Aviv Ibex Rugby Football Club |
|---|---|
| Unions | Rugby Israel; International Gay Rugby |
| Emblem | Nubian ibex |
| Founded | 2021 |
| Ground(s) | Sportek Tel Aviv, Yarkon Park |
| Coach(es) | Michal Vaizman (2021/2022); Jeremy Schauder (2022- ) |
| Largest win | |
| Bingham Cup Gladiator Plate (2024) | |
| Official website | |
| www | |
Tel Aviv Ibex (Hebrew: אייבקס תל אביב; Arabic: آيبكس تل ابيب) is a rugby union club based in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is the first and only LGBTQ+ inclusive men's rugby club in Western Asia.[1]
Foundation and name
The club was founded in 2021 with just ten players, most of whom had not played rugby before.[1] One founding member later described to Mako News how as a school kid he was always "the student chosen last in sports lessons".[2] The club was initially called the Tel Aviv Leviathans, later renaming, getting the new name from the desert-dwelling species of wild goat native to the Levant.
Subsequent chronology
The club affiliated with the Academic Sports Association (ASA) in 2022,[2] and in 2023 became a member of International Gay Rugby.[3]
In April 2023 Ibex partnered with two other inclusive clubs — the Berkshire Unicorns and the Bristol Bisons — to compete at the Union Cup in Birmingham. Ibex contributed four players to a joint team playing under the Berkshire Unicorns banner.
In May 2023 the club won a national sevens tournament[2] hosted by Yizre'el Rugby Club.
The club competed at the biennial Bingham Cup in Rome in May 2024,[1] winning the Gladiator Plate against Orlando Otters RFC with a score of 19-5.
The team was expelled from the 2025 International Gay Rugby Union Cup tournament after the Oslo-based Norwegian team refused to play them, stating some members of the team served in the IDF, which is compulsory in Israel.[4][5]
