Stud Francais grease up to show naked ambition in calendar

SACRE BLEU! We knew Stade Francais were one of the most attractive sides in Europe but zis is ridiculous.

The Heineken Cup quarter-final clash with Stade on April 10 was always an unnerving proposition for Munster and their fans. Now, after the publication of the Dieux du Stade (Gods of Stade) Calendar 2004, it may be even more so.

Over the past five years, the Parisian club has produced a special calendar for charity featuring unclad players in a variety of poses. But the positions adopted by Stade’s stars in the 2004 vintage verge on the pornographic and would seem to contravene the traditional ethos of the game.

Rugby has always been an overtly masculine pastime, players are supposed to laugh off injuries, down copious amounts of alcohol and chase women with the same zeal as they chase the oval ball.

What they are not, traditionally, supposed to do is strip off, cover themselves in oil and pose in a bath alongside their naked, glistening team-mates.

It could represent a psychological ploy by Stade coach Nick Mallett to unsettle the Munster men ahead of April’s trip to Thomond Park, Europe’s premier rugby fortress.

“This is our fifth year doing the calendar and it has been very successful,” said Frank Brozek, spokesman for Stade Francais.

“The money we raise goes to a charity for the disabled which we are delighted to contribute to.”

When asked to comment on the risque, some would say homo-erotic, nature of the 2004 calendar, Monsieur Brozek was non-committal.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I suppose you could say it is quite, eh, artistic.” Quite.

The nude calendar concept has been done before. The England rugby team got their kit off for charity a few years ago and last year’s film Calendar Girls, starring Julie Walters and Helen Mirren, enjoyed considerable success at the box office.

But it is hard to picture the grizzled men of Munster following Stade’s lead. Can you see John ‘The Bull’ Hayes

lying naked on the turf of Thomond, looking seductively over his shoulder at the camera? Or Frankie Sheahan pouting as he slowly draws his rugby shorts down to his knees? (That particular Stade picture could not be reproduced for legal reasons.)

Those wishing to see the calendar will find it on the Stade Francais website at www.stade.fr, and if you wish to go directly to the nudie shots the address is http://sondage.stade.fr/.

Visitors to Thomond Park are always guaranteed a warm welcome but if the Munster fans get their hands on this calendar, ‘Stud’ Francais can expect a particularly hot reception on April 10.

And that’s the naked truth.