Could be wrong- but didn’t Stade Francais start much of this with their player calendars in the early 2000s? Got a huge following from that. Just after my rugby team thought about doing the same to raise charity cash as a piss take… but a bunch of middle aged weekend warriors wouldn’t be the same.
Fair enough on Stade and it was around the time Dan Carter was modeling for Jockey as well
That's what got my gay flatmate into rugby
It was early 2000s; there’s even a book which a broker I dealt with sent to me - the looks in the office when I opened the parcel were hilarious, and then I had to declare the gift 🙈