Football players bare all to keep club going

Love us and save us, New Year is just around the corner, and that of course means for many the need to buy a new diary or calendar.

That's probably what the players of one amateur French football side were banking on when they decided to raise money for their indebted club.

They've come out with their own version of the popular "Dieux du Stade" (Gods of the Stadium) calendar, by baring their all for the camera in (and the joke only really works in French) what they've called "Vieux du Stade" (Oldies of the stadium).

Players from Marbache get their kit off (screenshot from TF1 news report)

While the professional version features six-pack torsos and rippling biceps of players from the Paris-based rugby team Stade Français, members of the Olympique Marbache-Belleville-Dieulouard club in the eastern French département of Meurthe and Moselle have posed for an edition which is...well more modest.

There's none of that semi-nude, erotic black and white photography nonsense that has been a trademark of Dieux du Stade annually since 2001.

Instead it seems to be more a case of "kit off off, tummies in and cheese".

If you want take a look at some of the photos, you can find them on the site of the regional newspaper L'Est républicain.

The whole idea of course is to raise money and in particular ensure there'll be enough cash in the pot to keep its youth teams going.

The very future of the club has been thrown into jeopardy over the past year after the local authority grant was slashed by 65 per cent.

"We need money for equipment and to pay referees," director and player Laurent Pavesi told TF1 news

"In fact we simply need money to keep the club going."

That obviously means doing just about anything - within reason - which hasn't, it has to be said, displeased the local population and in particular the women.

Even the players' wives seem to be quite happy about getting "behind" the idea as you can hear on the accompanying video, and the first run of 800 calendars at €5 a pop have all been snapped up.

And that has meant ordering another 400 from the printers.

Good for them!

Would you have the balls to do the same?

"Les vieux du stade" se déshabillent pour sauver leur club

Row continues over Ras Dumisani "singing" South Africa's national anthem

In Toulouse last Friday the French national rugby team took on the might of the reigning world champions South Africa - and won 20-13.

A fantastic victory for Les Bleus over the Springboks, but not the only reason the game made the headlines.

Instead the focus has been on the rather wayward singing (and that's putting it politely) of the visiting team's national anthem before the game started as self-styled "South Africa's biggest reggae man" Ras Dumisani gave what everyone seems to agree was an unforgettable performance of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika".

"Mauled, mutilated and murdered" is pretty much the description that summed up what most on the pitch, in the stadium and commentary boxes or at home in front of the small screen thought of Dumisani's rendition.

After the match the Springboks' trainer, Peter de Villiers accused French organisers of having shown a lack of respect by having someone sing the South African national anthem who clearly wasn't up to the job.

"I just want to say that the South African national anthem was performed by someone who didn't know how to sing properly," he said

But as far as the French were concerned the fault lay not with them, but with South Africa for having "chosen" Dumisani in the first place.

"Every time we host an international match we ask the embassy here in France of the visiting country to suggest someone to sing their anthem," said Joseph Maso, the manager of Les Bleus.

"It was therefore the South African embassy which put forward his name and we respected that choice," he added.

The tale might have ended there except that over the weekend it continued making headlines in South Africa with commentators going as far as to blame Dumisani for the Springboks' defeat.

On Monday the country's rugby federation expressed its "shock and horror at the interpretation of the national anthem" in a letter addressed to its French equivalent, and some South African politicians even stepped into the debate calling Dumisani's interpretation a "vocal misfire".

A Facebook page to "Ban Ras Dumisani From Ever Singing Again" already has over 3,000 "fans".

In fact the whole incident has taken on almost diplomatic proportions after the South African embassy in Paris issued a statement on Monday saying that its role had been limited to supplying information on South Africans living in France who might be able to sing the anthem.

And while it had provided the organisers with Dumisani's name it hadn't necessarily "constituted a recommendation because nobody had ever attended any of the singer's concerts and he was not, moreover, a renowned artist."

As for the main protagonist in the tale, well his version of events seems to have changed as the story has escalated.

At first he insisted that he couldn't see (or hear) much wrong with his performance.

"Nobody told me they were upset with the singing," he insisted.

"The Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika has been my tune since a baby," he said. "How can I not know the words?"

But as the furore in South Africa continued, he changed his tune (sorry) somewhat and blamed the organisers for having provided him with outdated material in the form of an old cordless microphone and monitor.

All right so you've read all about it. Now it's time to hear what players, spectators and television viewers were subjected to as Dumisani belted out his rendition of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika".

This and other videos of the same performance currently circulating on the Net, should perhaps carry some sort of health warning, and surely even the most tone deaf among us couldn't fail to recognise just how much of a hash Dumisani made of it.

Or as the South African commentator says (more kindly) at the end, "This is a highly experience South African team, but none of them will have experienced their national anthem being sung quite like that."

Happy listening?



For those of you who managed to make it through the clip and can't hear anything wrong with it, maybe you're unfamiliar with how the South African national anthem usually sounds, here's a - how to put it - more traditional version.

Or in other words - how it should sound when sung properly.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika
par TxupaTxups

Rugbymania – the replay

“And now the end is here, and so they face the final curtain.”

So England and South Africa will battle it out at the Stade de France this weekend for the glory of lifting the Webb Ellis trophy and being crowned winners of the 2007 Rugby World cup.

Who would have thought? The Springboks presence has not raised too many eyebrows this side of the channel, but England’s narrow defeat of the French in the semis after beating the Wallabies in the quarters is something of a understated surprise.

Meanwwhile National Pride here has been seriously dented and the inevitably excruciating post mortems have dumped a fair deal of the blame on the poor old coach, Bernard Laporte. All he has to look forward to now is a career as sports minister in Sarkozy’s government. Oh that and the prospect of a meaningless playoff for third place.

But let’s not carried away with false pride or unspoken dreams. Instead now’s the chance to take a look back at some of the highlights from the past six weeks.

Highlights indeed from the Tonga team – unfortunately of the follicle variety. When they took to the field in their first match against the United Sates, their players looked as though they had all just popped down to the local salon for something more than a shampoo and set. One burly character sported an Afro any Motown singer of the 60s would surely have been proud of. Another, carefully plucked eyebrows raised in readiness, wore cutesy-pie bunches which were surely donned to give the opposition the wrong impression.

In spite of that, the hairdon’ts deservedly got a rousing standing ovation following their brave performance against the mighty South Africans in their final group match. Maybe there was something in the hairspray!

The Americans of course all looked like clean-cut, square-jawed hunks with decent, proper haircuts, which alas didn’t help their play. Four matches, four losses and one measly bonus point.

Looks and colour co-ordination seemed to be high on the agenda of many of the top teams – a far cry from the good old days!

The Italians and the French looked liked models in homoerotic outfits as they strutted on to the field in their tightly fitting cossies.

And talking about sartorially elegant cloning, why were the Scots and the Kiwis wearing virtually the same strips when they faced each other – a sort of figure-hugging blueish-greyish affair? In fact the only way to tell them apart from a distance was dash of white on the Scottish shorts – oh yes that and the fact that they were getting pulverised.

A special mention of course to the Georgians, who managed one win in spite of wearing shorts that left little or nothing to the imagination.

But the last word on what to wear has to be left to the polemic the French created around the choice of strips for their quarterfinal clash with the Kiwis. It reached gargantuan proportions in the media and only at the last moment were they allowed to don their blue shirts, settling for red shorts and white socks. The All Blacks meanwhile went All Grey yet again, which must explain their defeat.

Another feature of the Coupe du Monde was undoubtedly the pre-match prancing that went on,

While the blood-curdling antics of the All Blacks Haka was enough to put the fear of God into anyone on or off the field (although admittedly the French looked suitably unimpressed) similar attempts to appeal to tradition by Samoa and Tonga fell on largely deaf ears. There simply wasn’t the stature or the follow-through on the pitch.

But perhaps the other countries could learn a trick or two to confuse their opponents in the future. Just imagine the English breaking out the bells and tripping along merrily in a Morris dance – perhaps that would have helped them to score against South Africa in the group match. Ah a strategy for the final!

Or better still, the Irish could show a pretty foot with their own rendition of Lord of the Dance. Now that would really set the pulses racing and, let’s face it, couldn’t really harm their performance.

Off the pitch it was lovely to see one of the world’s major healthcare companies taking such an interest in the game. Commercial breaks during the televised coverage here in France featured two of the country’s most recognisable players promoting the products of one of the official sponsors. And the same company even created a special McRugby burger on sale at all of its eateries. Yum, yum.

Fans who wanted to quaff a quick half at Stade de France had no choice but to cough up €7 or £4.80/$9.70 a bottle. Either that or go without as that sponsor had exclusive rights, although it later had its wrists gently slapped by the organisers for breaching the ban on stadium advertising of alcohol. But just a slight tap as those guys bring in mega-bucks in revenue for any sporting event.

And in this case what an event. After all that’s what the competition was really about and it didn’t disappoint. There were sporting highlights a plenty. Half man half mountain totally awesome - Sébastien Chabal forced his way through a timid Namibian defence (who wouldn’t be frightened of him) as he powered his way to a try. Chabalamania reached new heights throughout the nation (we were informed) and onwards strode the French until it all ended in tears – even for the big man himself.

The pummelling New Zealand gave all their opponents in their group matches notching up 309 points and conceding only 35 – breathtaking. Sadly they ran out of puff in the quarterfinals.

Depleted to just 14 men for just over half the match. Fiji scored a heart-stopping try in the dying minutes of their group decider against Wales. The win saw them squeeze into the quarterfinals, where they held their own for most of the match against the Springboks until the fairy tale ended

But this toughest of games also displayed an elegance and sportsmanship so sadly lacking elsewhere in the sporting world.

The players may be twice the sideways size of their soccer counterparts and the game may be rough, but their behaviour was impeccable. When Peter White, the English referee in the France-Ireland match, found himself caught up in the action, he good-humouredly shook off the bruising shove in the back and got on with the job in hand, looked on by concerned players.

Everyone seemed genuinely moved and proud to be representing their countries- no matter their chances of winning – giants and minnows often tearfully belting out their national anthems before games and winners lining up to applaud losers afterwards.

But the biggest winner after Saturday’s game – no matter whether it’s a repeat for the Roses (don’t bet on it) or an on-field mashing by the Sprinboks – will probably be the capacity crowds who have so often been treated to the glories of the gentlemen’s game and shown their appreciation with standing ovations.

Rugbymania – a mightily padded spectacle

The Nation is holding its collective breath in anticipation of six weeks worth of sparkling sportsmanship culminating in a wished-for, wonderful win for the hosts.

Well that’s certainly the impression being given by the media and promoters of the rugby world cup.

The country’s hopes are pinned on the 15 Dieux de Stade, (or rather the full squad of 30) - who’ve taken time out from posing for shots for the next raunchy edition of their annual pin-up calendar - to bring glory and pride on a level not witnessed since the glory days of the 1998 football world cup.

Not surprisingly perhaps, even the President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has jumped on the bandwagon and is reportedly brushing up his knowledge of the gentleman’s game. The team manager, Bernard Laporte – a man who speaks faster than a TGV train travels – has put his lads through months of gruelling preparation and is determined to finish his coaching career on a high. And the country expects great things of the Great Tinkerer and his prodigies, especially after convincing performances in their warm-up games.

There again, if it all goes pear-shaped for him, Laporte still has the comfort of a new job once the tournament is over, as he’s due to take up his new post in government as a junior sports minister. So much for not mixing sport and politics.

In spite of all the hype there’s one major problem with the event. There are simply too many countries involved who will be either fodder or warm-up practice for the top teams during the group stage. Padding on a major scale has led to the inclusion of 20 countries, many of them with little or no real tradition of playing rugby. Portugal, for example, only has 4,000 registered players back home – all of them amateurs. And even if the whole lot took to the field in their match against the mighty New Zealand, the chances are they would still be thrashed.

The US will also be fielding a largely amateur team as they take on giants South Africa and England, and will probably stand as much chance of reaching the knock-out stage as Namibia, who in the 2003 competition narrowly lost to powerhouse Australia 0-142! Oh yes and spare a thought for the Japanese, who in one of their preparation games squared up against a second string All Blacks – and managed just 17 points against 147.

So expect some cricket scores in the opening games, before the real competition starts in the quarterfinals.

Of course the organisers will argue that the best way to promote rugby internationally is to include those smaller nations. But in the five previous tournaments, countries in the top tier (New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and France) have filled 35 out of the 38 places in the knockout stages.

Argentina and Samoa will hope for a repeat of their previous exploits and prevent one of the favourites making it through, and Italy are also likely to be spoilers in their group. But the simple truth is that there is a huge imbalance of power and the skills in the rugby world and this tournament just ain’t going to chance that.

Still, when the nonsense of the first couple of weeks is over, the real competition should get underway – and that promises some delicious match-ups. Australia versus England, or New Zealand versus Ireland in the quarterfinals for example. Now even President Sarkozy, with his newly discovered love of the game, would be up for that. And better still if, as hoped, the French get their hands on the Webb Ellis Cup on October 20 (against New Zealand?) that’ll surely provide a lovely “bounce” for everyone this side of the channel.