James Haskell is confident of reclaiming his regular starting berth in the England team this season
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In an interview with the Daily Mail, Stade Francais back-row James Haskell talks about the way in which he divides opinions, his newfound status as a gay icon and his determination to re-establish himself in Martin Johnson's starting line-up.
"A recent online article about a member of the England back-room staff provoked one of those opinionated responses that the internet tends to nourish. 'I can sum up what is wrong with English rugby in two words,' the contributor wrote. 'James Haskell.'
"The fact that James Haskell, who was not even mentioned in the aforementioned piece, can tell the story against himself does not diminish the hurt which most people feel when the object of criticism or, worse, vilification.
"'I thought, "oh my God",' Haskell recalls. 'But then it is not uncommon for people who don't know me but have a perception to hate me with a venom. If I cared one bit, I would go and top myself.'
"He cares all right. Haskell is England's marmite: his 8,000-plus Twitter followers form part of the fan club; on the other side of the toast are spread the rugby traditionalists who recoil from all the Brand Haskell stuff, the personal sponsorships, the Facebook page, the website, the naked photoshoots, the blogs, the podcasts and the tweets.
"There are two sides to Haskell. Behind the loud, brash, gauche, self-absorbed, preening self-publicist is an extremely likeable loud, brash, gauche, self-absorbed, preening self-publicist.
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