Following in the footsteps of Keegan Hirst, Sam Stanley has become the second British pro rugby player to reveal publicly that he is gay.
Stanley, 23, has represented England at five tournaments and is the brother of Samoan international Michael Stanley. Stanley said he has kept his five-year relationship with partner Laurence a secret.
“I was 10 or 11 when I realized I was different to my friends,’ Stanley told the Sunday Times. ‘I didn’t want to accept it, I felt that being different wasn’t right. I had a girlfriend and I was thinking that, like some people say, maybe it is just a phase.”
Stanley revealed that at one point he even considered suicide, “I was standing on a bridge about four or five years ago, overlooking a motorway in Essex,” he explains. “However, looking back, the idea that I would jump was ridiculous but it was as if I was thinking that I could get rid of the pain in one go.”
Earlier this month Keegan Hirst, a professional rugby league player for Batley Bulldogs announced that he was gay and Stanley has followed suit after receiving advice from 2003 World Cup winner Ben Cohen, whose Stand Up Foundation campaigns against bullying, reports The Daily Mail.
