Sacha Harding: Flattered by the Attention

British rugby players keep on surprising us. Since he came out publicly as gay in 2009, after he retired, Gareth Thomas remains as visible as ever thanks to competing on Celebrity Big Brother and a forthcoming film biography. Then Ben Cohen retired last year to launch a foundation to end antigay bullying. Now comes Bedford RFC’s Sacha Harding. Last year 28-year-old Harding was named Britain's Manliest Man in a poll voted on by 140,000 people and was the proud ambassador for the Movember campaign, a month-long celebration of top-lip fuzz to raise awareness of men’s health issues — specifically prostate and testicular cancer. He is the face of The Bluebeards Revenge grooming products, and he raised eyebrows and gained respect when he agreed to pose
nude for the cover of Britain's Gay Times magazine's Nude Issue to support Elton John’s AIDS foundation. Harding offered to answer questions submitted by The Advocate via email; he shares his thoughts on the honor, advice for athletes thinking about coming out, and how he felt posing nude for a gay magazine.

The Advocate: What was your reaction when you found out you'd won the title?
Sacha Harding: I was quite surprised and flattered, to be honest.

Why do you think you won this title over your competitors?
I guess being a professional rugby player helped a lot. There are not many sports which are more manly.

What was the reaction of your Bedford teammates? Did they tease you about being a pinup for gay men?
No, not at all. The team are actually very supportive of everything I do.