San Diego Armada Rugby | Bingham 2022

The San Diego Armada is an inclusive rugby union club. All players and supporters – regardless of skill level, orientation, gender identity, religion, or national origin – are welcome! The Bingham Cup is the biennial world championships of gay and inclusive rugby, the 2022 cup being hosted in Ottawa, Canada. I chose to pay homage to the local First Nations tribes in my design – the Algonquin, Ojibwe, Mohawk, and Cree. Each tribe is represented in the design: Algonquin often used turquoise in their beadwork (featured in the birchbark-inspired sleeve pattern), both Ojibwe and Cree use(d) birchbark (sleeve pattern) to build canoes, and Mohawk use maple sap in their new year Maple Ceremony (maple leaves). Along the bottom is an abstract eagle-feather pattern, highly revered creatures in both Canada and America. The orange of "With You", birchbark pattern, and numbering are nods to First Nations sovereignty and healing, in light of the recently unearthed mass gravesites at Residential Schools across the nation.