prrrrr prrrrr....

He can sign my calendar any time.

He is going to be so hot in 10 years.

it also depends on the sport, rugby is much more of an middle class sport and a little more elitist. the real test would be football which is much more working class, and acceptance there is more indicative of community wide tolerance.

YAY! A REAL MAN pictured on slog =D

Finally! Someone who knows their fanbase. =)

Oh, bollocks. Rugby Union (as opposed to Rugby League) is predominantly northern and working class. And football is about as working class as the opera these days.

It will be interesting to see what effect this has on the game, as rugby is little more than codified homosexual repression, so if the repression goes away, will the game? Rugby is the gayest of all sports (even women's golf).

They stick their fingers up each other's asses in the scrum, and grope each other's testicles, and dance naked in the locker room and frequently in the pub afterwards.

Yes, the British have very different ideas about homosexuality. They also have very different ideas about unadjudicated detentions and torture. That's because they're a different culture, Dan, and we don't necessarily wish it were our culture.

At any rate, I think I can pretty much guarantee he'd get a different reception in Wales. If they even had a gay bookstore there, which of course they don't.

Fuck, sorry, got them mixed up again. Rugby Union is the middle class one. Still gay, though.

Fnarf - but "They stick their fingers up each other's asses in the scrum, and grope each other's testicles"?

Really? On purpose!?

wow, I gotta look into finding a rugby game to play in.

is it just me, or does this guy look exactly like the party of five/lost dude?

The whole purpose of rugby is to endure punishment. It's the Brit school system turned pro.

Fingers in asses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hopoate (with photo).

*Snort* what, huh, someone say "cute guy"?

Oh wait, it's about sports.

Yawn *smacksmacksmak* Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

What FNARF says. Before you start praising Brit tolerance go to a Football match (their national sport).

Parts of the UK are some of the most homophobic and xenophobic places on the planet.

@9 i was going to say...rubgy league is more northern (leeds rhinos!) but its more associated with public and the better state schools, unless its wales. a rugger bugger is usually also a bit of a toff

@15 that was me...FNARF doesn't know his arse from his elbow...but i agree with you casual racism is still very much in vogue to a level that is much less overt in this country

ben cohen is sooooo dreamy....

sigh...

and I'm SHOCKED, that Bearophobic Savage posted this...usually it's revolting pictures of half naked, hairless youth with pale skin and pinkberry nipples that he posts...

Finally a hot MAN is posted on here. mmmm.. not even super bear-y or anything, just rugged. I'm shocked but plesantly surprised, @ 18.

Is rugby still the gay sport of choice? I thought we'd moved onto foosball or ice dancing.

Northern rugby is not in any way associated with the better schools. Southern rugby is. There's nothing remotely "toff" about Wigan.

Racism in English football is history. The thugs are all banned from matches, and there's none of the monkey chants or banana-waving that you'd see in the 80s. English football is SUBJECT to racist attacks whenever they visit places like Serbia and Turkey.

As for xenophobia, it's pretty hard to do when the majority of the players come from overseas. Arsenal doesn't have ANY British players in its regular lineup, and most other teams have players from fifteen or more countries. There are dozens of African players, and they are very popular when (they're going well).

The only "xenophobia" on display is the unbridled hatred of the people who come from 30 miles down the road -- but that's just part of the fun.

Um, yah rugby is pretty gay, but allowing *openly* gay people to play it hasn't led to it's downfall, Fnarf.

For anyone that's interested, Quake Rugby is a gay-friendly team right here in Seattle. Straights are welcome too, but just know we have our celebrations in gay bars. We play mostly straight teams (one other gay team in our division) and for the most part they don't give a shit.

And thank you Dan, for showing someone a little more burly. I can only hope I'll see something similar in the Strangercrombie.

Fuck! My head is spinning. Just went to the Ben Cohen website... just look at these pictures!
http://ben-cohen.com/shop-online/75.html?Itemid=41
And here's the picture Dan should have included with the story!!
http://www.gaydarnation.com/images/gnimages/bencoheniamge4.jpg
I'm literally drooling.

Is that a carpet on his chest? Ugh.

Is my memory playing tricks, or did the (openly) gay rugby team in New York City just finish second in the entire region (or something like that), which was pretty freakin' cool? I seem to remember a pretty hot action shot of these rugby bears in action (I'm just too lazy to find it). As for professional sports in the U.S., it's just a bunch of corporate bullshit; so many gay guys throw their money away on this crap, and I always get the sense that what they're really saying is: "I may be a cocksucker, but I'm masculine because I'm a big-time Steelers fan."

OK, now I can't wait to get home and check out those links.

Mmmmm....fur.

I just realized that Ben Cohen looks like the Public Intern's bearish big brother!!

Someone call Joe Gage; we need to put those two in a movie!!

"Racism in English football is history. The thugs are all banned from matches, and there's none of the monkey chants or banana-waving that you'd see in the 80s. "

FNARF are u serious? Youre usually right on, but man, I was there a couple of times in the late 90's and in 02 and the monkey chants still go on. And in Scotland? Fugget about it, The Celtic Rangers match is filled with United front types supporting the Rangers and is not only against Catholics (taigs as they say) but against foreigners. I cant tell you how many times people yelled bloody Paki at me. That statement is just not true. The supporter clubs in England are full of national front types and sometimes they wait on the trains for "foreigners" before a match. Is not as bad as Spain, but come on man.

Gheeezuz phuquing Krist why don't you Gay men get your sorry asses to the gym and drop those tires around your waists? You drool at a 29 year old with the understanding that in 20 years he'll be fat and out of shape; it don't have be that way. It'd be great to have Seattle full of men 20-70 in some shape other than ROUND.

Sorry, I meant the National Front not the United Front.

@29

You're making no sense at all.

Deal with your own self image issues and try again

FNARF there is no 'southern' or 'northern' rugger...rugby union (which is what is mostly played worldwide) is played throughout the north as well as the south. rugby league is predonminately played in the north but is not 'northern rugby'. for football, while it has gentrified, it still is the working class sport. the yobo's are much reduced but there still is some hooliganism going on.

where the fuck does Foghorn Calgon live? Burien?

Where's all these fat gay men he's ranting about?

They sure as hell don't live on Capitol Hill...emaciated IS the new black.

tool.

OK, looked at the links. I'm disappointed.

@ #24: that's no carpet, that's barely a start.

He needs about 15 more years, he needs to leave the razor alone, and then...

...he needs to come talk to me :-P

Yes, I know that, Jiberish, but the southern game, which evolved into Union, was middle class, but the northern game, which evolved into League, was working class, and remains so today, regardless of where the teams are located. Wigan and Warrington and so on are as working class as you can get.

I don't know about in the UK but I have hung around our Seattle men's side (not the Quake, they're fabulous) long enough to feel the homophobia. Its funny, as a queer women's rugby player, to watch a bunch of "straight" guys play like they do and then make homo jokes at the bar. They don't even know they're laughing at themselves. That guy is hot though, for real. And that means a lot coming from me. What I'd really love to see, though, is a Dan Carter (of the NZ All Blacks) calendar. Yum!

basically fnarf my point is that rugby (union) is a more middle class sport not usually associated with the lads from the council estate whereas football is more so...if a football star supported all his fans it would be more indicative of a societal trend towards support of rights for everyone.

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