Sam Stanley (born 8 November 1991)
is a British
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
player. He played
rugby sevens for England during the 2013/14 and 2014/15
World Rugby Sevens Series
The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...
. At club level, he previously played for
Saracens F.C. (2010–2014) and the
Bedford Blues (2011–2014).
In 2015, he signed with the
Ealing Trailfinders
Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the current champions of the RFU Championship but will remain in that league due to ineligibility for promotion to Premi ...
.
He can play at
centre
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
* Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...
or
fly-half
In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...
.
Personal life
Stanley comes from a rugby playing family. His brother is
Michael Stanley
Michael Stanley (born Michael Stanley Gee; March 25, 1948 – March 5, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, radio and television personality. Both as a solo artist and with the Michael Stanley Band (MSB), his brand of heartland r ...
, who plays for Samoa, and his uncle is
Joe Stanley
Joe Stanley (born 13 April 1957) is a former rugby union player. He was born in Auckland, New Zealand.
Career
Stanley played for Ponsonby RFC and Auckland in the National Provincial Championship, and New Zealand as a centre. Joe is a member o ...
, who played rugby for New Zealand.
In August 2015, Stanley became the first English rugby union player to
come out as gay.
In 2017, he announced his engagement to his long term boyfriend, (
Laurence Hicks): they had met seven years previously on a
dating website
Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Sam
1991 births
Living people
English rugby union players
England international rugby sevens players
Saracens F.C. players
Rugby union fullbacks
Rugby union fly-halves
English LGBT sportspeople
British LGBT rugby union players
Gay sportsmen
Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club players