He is a gay icon but Cohen the Barbarian seeks wider appeal
Friday, November 30th, 2007
>England wing returns with no club but fresh ambition to Twickenham today, he tells Robert Kitson
At least Ben Cohen has not been forgotten. Apparently there were more than 46,000 hits on his website last month following the release of the exiled England wing’s new beefcake calendar and he has bowed further to popular demand by doing a photo-shoot for Gay Times. A large chunk of his fan-base clearly cares little what he does on Saturdays as long as he is bare-chested in glossy colour every month.
The positive attention makes a change. Cohen does not enjoy the uncritical adoration of everyone within the macho world of English rugby but admirers of his physique are unfazed by the summer fall-out at Northampton which caused him to leave the club he joined as a 16-year-old. Nor, on a recent promotional visit to Prowler, a specialist homosexual men outlet in Soho, did anyone query his decision to reject England’s call in the build-up to the World Cup. Or ask whether flogging topless calendars for his testimonial year is not a slight come-down for a 29-year-old World Cup winner who should still have plenty to give his chosen sport.
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