Rugby: A sport for hard men

I really like rugby. It's a winner sport - big hits, complex plays, passion and sheer physicality. Plus every now and then something like this happens...

Stade Francais are a quality team, and my favourites for the European Cup. Animal team, full of top French, Argentine and Italian internationals. The thing is is that their a Parisien team, and the south is the traditional bastion of French rugby. The southern French rugby player is basically a sweaty, toothless, half-peasant half-athlete French culchie. So they always view Paris as Irish culchies view Dublin: a dirty place full of homosexuals.

So some Parisien marketer thought what better way to make our team stand out than wrap them in hi-glow pink skintight jerseys. This interesting take on the rugby kit has more in common with the Tour de France than top tier rugby (ironically enough cycling is the darling sport of Paris). That's been the way for some time now, and they've just released the 2007/2008 version:







Pretty risqué, no? Now what I noticed immediately was this poor guy's expression. He doesn't look to happy, does he? I might hazard a guess that although a Stade Francais player he's not Parisien, and therefore not comfortable with the idea of lying at the bottom of a ruck in that getup.












Apparently it's not seen as cutting edge anymore, as they've been wairing pink kits for a while now and therefore feel like smacking kit design firmly into the noughties. Enter the homage to Magnum PI and Hunter S. Thompson's lovechild: THE BRAND SPANKING NEW HOME STRIP:







Now doesn't he look a lot happier? Same dude, different strip, happier footballer. Still though, it must be difficult sometimes having to wear any of those kits. It's bad losing a big game, but if you've to go back into the dressingroom after and sit there thinking "not only do I feel like shit for losing, I look like a Dutch sex tourist on holidays in the Phillipines"...