Compared to other professional team sports, rugby has more than its share of gay allies… as well as some actual out players. It also boasts some impressive male eye candy. In fact, if you set out to design a team sport to appeal to gay men, you couldn't do better than rugby.
“Rugby” as we know it was invented in the the mid-1800s at a school in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. There are many similarities between American football and rugby, but two fundamental differences stand out: there is no passing forward of the ball (doing so results in a penalty); and there is very little protective padding. Players in light shirts, short-shorts and knee socks run, block, bump and tackle other players with impunity – and no body armor whatsoever. This leads, inevitably, to the sight of hot, well-muscled (and frequently muddy) men scrumming, tussling, rocking and rolling across local fields while their equally handsome teammates cheer them on.
Which leads us to our first and second admittedly prurient reasons for loving the sport: the men playing it are sexy as all hell ….
1.
The Warm Up: Training Sessions
As they say about rugby, “Those allergic to physical exertion are advised to take up something more gentle.”
Dean Solomon of the Dockers stretches during a Fremantle Dockers AFL training session at Fremantle Oval on November 16, 2009 in Perth, Australia.
Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images
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