Actually, I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this earlier (other than my last post), and considering it’s Guillaume’s annual suggestion as what to get my mother for Christmas – I’d better rectify the situation.

Dieux du Stade – if this name rings a bell (and your blood runs a little hot), you’re probably scrolling down already to see if I’ve included any photographs (yet patience is a virtue, I’ve got a story to tell first).

Now it all began back in summer 2007, when I was crash-course revising rugby union, pretending that I had in fact invented the game and followed it all my life, just to get a job writing English commentaries for the Rugby World Cup in France. Writing a synopsis of the Argentinean team led me to the boys of the Stade Français and their lurid pink lily uniforms… but then I discovered that they’re even better known when they get their kit off!

It all began back in 2001, a calendar with nude and semi-nude pictures of the Stade Français players was released to try and put a bit of spark back into the club and into rugby in general. 15,000 copies were sold, and the marketing machine took off. Since 2004, a “making-of” DVD has accompanied the calendar for each year, and the figures for the 2007 calendar stand at a whopping 200,000 sales. Needless to say, the erotic and homoerotic pics are a hit with both the lads and the ladies, and wider audience appeal for the game has been of course assured.

I’m always one for parody though – and it was with glee that I discovered Les Odieux Du Stade (édition 2008) the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Part of the BD series Les Rugbymen, the calendar pokes fun at the whole Dieux du Stade shebang.

… And don’t worry, Mum, neither will be posted over to you any time soon!