The Roar began in 2009 when male student rowers posed nude to challenge homophobia in sport. We've featured their naked bodies on OutUK for quite a few years now. Their annual calendar is one of the most popular of the Christmas fundraisers. We're glad these very fit sportsman want to show off their fantastic physique because there's a serious message behind their nudity. They raise money for Sport Allies, a charity that helps to make sport more inclusive and open a global, mindful conversation with everyone affected by male mental health.

They used to be called the Warwick Rowers but changed the name so those from a broader range of backgrounds could come together and share new ways to experience life as men. They wanted sportsmen everywhere to feel that they can truly be a part of the project and so they found a new more inclusive name.

This is their thirteenth calendar, and volunteer athletes from a growing range of sports are going totally nude to promote gender equality and human rights, to raise funds for charity and offer everyone a fresh look at men! This year the rowers are joined by players from the Manchester Village Spartans RUFC and American Football team, The Pinto Goldbats.

In our own OutUK exclusive interview we've been talking with Photographer and Founder Angus Malcom and Lucas Etienne - one of the guys who's been stripping off in more than half of the WR calendars.

Worldwide Roar Poster 2023 featuring members of the American football team Goldbats

So Angus, the first calendar came out in 2009. How did the project start?
Gosh. Well I've thought about this a lot over the years, because I think sometimes we start things, particularly creative things, and we don't really know where they come from when we start them. My photography came from a big bang moment in my puberty adolescence, where I'm in a changing room at school. This very hot guy takes his clothes off in front of me, and I realized that I'm really loving this moment.

I grew up in a very conservative place, Northern Ireland. And so the idea that I would get to see somebody sexually attractive taking their clothes off in front of me was really a way of telling me that my sexual identity was being cancelled or had been cancelled. I could not say to the guy, "Oh, that's really fun. I'm loving this," because first of all, he might kill me... and secondly, everybody would then know my shameful secret. So there was a question over consent in that moment.

To bring it up to 2009, I think that when I wanted to start photographing men, it was to go back to that moment in a healthier way. Our first sexual awakening comes with so much baggage that we spend the rest of our lives trying to unpack it and trying to get rid of it.

Three of their favourite contributors at the Soho members' club Blacks, which has a history dating back to the 18th century. L-R Amir, Lucas, Alex

Lucas, what made you get involved with the calendar shoot?
Well, the initial reasons are very different to the reasons I'd still do it. I originally joined because I was part of a rowing team at university, and it was very much a tradition for us to get involved. I felt very close to the cause that we were fighting, which originally was homophobia in sports. I had grown up in a very embracing environment because I grew up with two gay uncles. I also had a gay host dad when I was in Australia. So I felt very close to what the calendar project was doing and I stuck around because I've learned a lot from it.

I grew up in a family that was embracing of everybody's differences, actually. A lot of how I was brought up was because I was a straight white man and I had to confront my privileges. I had to realise that not everybody has the chances or the luck to have grown up with so many privileges as I have. My identity is not a straight white man, and I don't have to do sports in a certain way. I don't have to speak in a certain way. I don't have to dress in a certain way. Actually, I want to dress differently. And everybody's identity shouldn't be restricted because of agenda or because of their sexuality. So for me, it's very much of a personal development journey and I'm loving it and I'm embracing it.

Their work and particularly their use of male nudity has long interested academics. They have watched a simple naked calendar evolve into a health promotion and human rights project that enables participating sportsmen to confront their privilege, develop healthier masculinities and become active advocates for inclusion.

And it's one of the reasons why we've now been able to evolve from being a fundraising project that sells imagery of beautiful men naked to raise funds, to actually being a project that enables the men who take part to go on a journey that is transformative in the way that Lucas has been talking about. There is an element of nerves with some guys, but they also have to confront all these unspoken rules that they were not aware of around how intimate they could be with each other. Historically there was no sexual tension, but now that we've mixed things up we've got a lot more gay men taking part alongside straight men. I think that's part of admitting that sexuality runs through male culture, even when it's not supposedly there.

Goldbats Nacho and Javier are joined by long-standing calendar regular, Lucas.

Do you agree, Lucas?
I think male intimacy is very important. It's a very important part of our project. And the problem is male intimacy has been associated with homosexuality for way too long. And it's time we change that because all men should be intimate with each other. And the project has made me learn a lot about this. Not long ago, I was listening to a podcast. It's a French one and I can't name it, but basically it was this teacher and she did this empirical study on men from the age of four or five years old until they get to 25. Basically there's a time at the age of 13 or 14, when they start hitting puberty, they stop being intimate with their friends. They do all sorts of things together and they're actually quite physical with one another.

Then by the age of 13, 14, people start telling them that it's not okay. And they feel like they have to prove that they're not gay because being close to your friends is associated with homosexuality. Then they're being told that they have to be more physical with one another, and they start fighting and doing all sorts of things that they hadn't done before. Actually intimacy is healing. Intimacy is a very much part of having a good mental health. I enjoy being intimate with both my male and my female friends, and it's a massive part of my life.

The Spartans show how we can all help out by sharing the shower!


More of our Interview about Worldwide Roar

You can purchase a Calendar direct from the Worldwide Roar Website for just £17.59. On the site you'll also find loads of other items including photo sets, film downloads, signed limited editions and picture profiles of some the guys.

A proportion of every sale is donated to Sport Allies, a charity that aims to combat homophobia in team sports. The charity is currently in the UK news for being recipients of a £5000 donation from the comedian Joe Lycett, who threatened to shred his money in protest at 'ally' David Beckham's role in promoting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

See the Sport Allies website: sportallies.org
Tweet Sport Allies @SportAllies: twitter.com/SportAllies
Find Sport Allies on Facebook here: facebook.com/SportAlliesCharity