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 ...

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