France fêtes rugby, Sarko orders victory

Pulling the cork from a bottle of rosé last night I realised that I had been caught up in the rugby madness that has taken over France as it prepares to host the World Cup from this Friday. When I bought the wine, from the southwestern town of Gaillac, I hadn't noticed the name on the label: Bernard Laporte.
   
Laporte, as we saw last week, is the national rugby manager, businessman and television personality who has been co-opted by President Sarkozy as sports minister after the cup final in Paris on October 21. With his usual flair for seizing the mood of the moment, Super-Sarko has adopted rugby as the symbol of his invincible, can-do presidency.

Rugbymania has been building since France discovered a taste for a minority sport that is played traditionally in the foie gras and armagnac country of the southwest and in Paris. The English "game for hooligans played by gentlemen"  has now become a metaphor for French values and team spirit.

"This is a moment of national unity," said François Fillon, the Prime Minister, when the French squad dined with him last week.

Like all good French fads, the craze for l'Ovalie -- the oval world, as the rugby universe is known -- has been endowed with an intellectual framework. René Descartes, Jean-Paul Sartre and other great penseurs have been hauled in to explain the essence of what used to be deemed a sport for bourgeois Paris boys and toughs with quaint Gascon accents. 

This month's Philosophie magazine -- I'm not making this up -- announced that "Rugby is not a sport for brutes". It is a noble, mystical, rite that is performed by artist-warriors with an oval ball. "I go to the stadium like I go to the opera, with the desire to see a high level spectacle," said Catherine Kintzler, a professor of 18th and 19th century philosophy. Rugby codified the concepts of Descartes, she said, because its violence derived from indignation and not anger.

Rugby is also being celebrated by the new Quai Branly museum in Paris. This is the impressive centre of primitive arts -- except you're not allowed to call it that -- founded by Jacques Chirac last year. It is staging a show on New Zealand, the Pacific, South Africa and Argentina and the other civilisations of l'Ovalie". "Rugby is the sport which we feel closest to," said Pierre Hanotaux, the deputy director of the Museum. "We share with it the values of tolerance and dialogue between cultures and combat". Among events at the musuem are workshops on the Haka, the Maori war-dance with which the New Zealand All Blacks terrify opponents before play starts.

The fascination with the primitive side of rugby is reflected in the adulation of Sébastien Chabal, a forward whose bulk, beard and long hair have earned him the nicknames of Caveman, the Ogre and Attila. Chabal, who plays for the English club Sale Sharks, has become the darling of the media and Sarkozy ministers, such as Roselyne Bachelot, the Health Secretary who will be Laporte's boss. 

Admirers see Chabal as the virile opposite of "Metro-sexual" football sissies like David Beckham, the English star. According to Francis Lalanne, a popular singer "Chabal is the Gaullish spirit: that France that is wild, irresistible and free, which nothing and nobody can conquer." Chabal, however, was not picked this week for Friday's first match, against Argentina.

Sarkozy, a cycling and football fan,  has re-invented himself as a rugby buff after boning up on the rules and dropping in at training sessions. He hopes that he can relive the bounce that France's 1998 football World Cup victory gave Chirac. Denis Tillinac, the writer of one of the 75 rugby-themed books published in France this summer, said Sarkozy is banking on a rugby-generated extension to his honeymoon with the electorate. "If they win, these musketeers will prolong the frenetic euphoria generated by the start of Sarkozyism," said Tillinac. The writer also signed onto the "rugby-is-not-just-a-sport" doctrine, saying that the game "is about 15 guys in loving communion."

Seventy percent of the French think that France can beat the All Blacks, who are favourite, but what happens if they dont ? Sarkozy has all but ordered the team to win.  "France is counting on you. You know what you have to do," he told the squad at their southern at Marcoussis. "I won and now it's up to you to do it." He was joking, but his remarks caused disquiet in a team that has been elevated to the stardom that use to be reserved for its footballers.

Several team members have complained about the high expectations that Sarkozyh is imposing on them, though Laporte, in good Sarko style, says the pressure is healthy.

Inevitably, a backlash is being felt. Libération, the leftwing daily, forgot that enthusiasm for rugby is now a patriotic duty and complained on Saturday that the World Cup cup was "surfing on a troubling wave of Sarkozyism." Some of my lefty friends are musing about the look on the face of the pleased-with-himself president if France drops out early in the tournament. I hope they don't. France needs the lift and an early flop after last year's football Cup loss will shove morale back into the basement.

But as a Scottish-Australian who had to play rugby six days a week as a school-boy, I would prefer that one of my countries takes the cup. In Scotland's case it would take a miracle.

 

[Laporte's rugby wine]

Comments

[rocket]

"According to Francis Lalanne, a popular singer "Chabal is the Gaullish spirit: that France that is wild, irresistible and free, which nothing and nobody can conquer."

Chuckle Chuckle Chuckle!

I always thought the Gaullish spirit was Bertrand Delanoê

[richard jones]

I hope France does well too. I don't hope they win because my allegiance lies elsewhere. Having said that I am very bored with the 'blunt weapon' rugby employed by England and to some extent RSA and NZ.
Thus I hope the side that wins is a 'keep the ball alive - multi-passing' side like Ireland, Wales, Australia in the old days, but less now, or France.

[John Gregory Flinn]

I saw Bernard Laporte last night on a TV report and he was speaking English! And a lot slower than he speaks the language of Moliére.
M.Sarkozy's choice of him as Sports minister is clear.

If France fail to win, I'm sure He will be more lenient than Saddam was reputed to have been with that Iraqi Football team which lost.

[richard jones]

When the RWC was held in RSA did not the Blessed Nelson Mandela make some Sarkoesque comment????

[Sandrine]

Charles, you know the expression "vendre la peau de l'ours avant de l'avoir tué" ? I knew it in English but I forgot it. [Don't count your chickens before they hatch. CB]

Anyway, I really think that we should be behind our team, we have a really good chance to win, partly because we're on our soil, but Sarko really needs to be careful on this. There are also some talented teams in the Tournament.

I don't think the players need that kind of pression, remember the football team in 2002 ? La débâcle (again, I forgot sorry) ! We so wanted to win a second time in a row ! I guess it's always when you expect nothing or the worst from them that the French are the best !

Rocket, I totally agree with what you said in Charles' other post, I'm not really (Gosh, I'm not at all) in rugby, but if we win I'll go dance in the streets of Washington with the French flag ! I'll be so proud of them, and it won't mean anything for me regarding Sarko !!

[Terry]

"But as a Scottish-Australian who had to play rugby six days a week as a school-boy,..."

HAD to play? Rugby was compulsory? Did they force you to play in the pack, Charles? [It was compulsory at my school from age 9 - 14. Yes I was always in the scrum, usually prop. CB, ]

I played for nine years until I got a stress fracture (from jogging). I was a winger which meant, (at least in the States) that I never got the ball. I truly loved the game. In the US, it has become the biggest club sport in college. My school of 3K, fielded three teams. There was a lot of comraderie. Especially the rugby party right after the game. We'd wheel out the kegs and both teams, the referee and everyone who watched would join in for the festivities. Keg tosses, "boat races", songs, etc. Anyway, the US has no chance. Maybe (maybe) we will thrash Tonga. So, I will root for Scotland too.

I am not so sure most (any) of the lyrics from our rugby songs would pass Charles' censor, which is quite liberal.

BTW: I cast my vote for Sandrine as the honary rugby queen here at Charles' place.

[azloon]

The french just want to be a little different (and better), so elevating rugby to a revered mystical status is perfect for this purpose. i doubt they'll have much competition in this line of thinking.

ideas in france often seem be be a fashion statment, and rugby as art seems to be intellectual fashion de jour for the french "thinking crowd" (lets agree now that if there is ever a world cup for thinking, the title is hereby conceded to france).

that being said, rugby IS a fascinating sport, even in the u.s. my friends who played serious rugby (as opposed to my one-month career), some into their 40s and 50s, were invariably interesting sorts. many are upper middle-class sorts, who attended elite universities, are considered a bit crazy by their friends, real 'characters.' the son of a friend of mine had six shoulder surgeries into his late 20s so he could continue playing. and i do believe the primitive 'battle' aspects of the sport are a large part of its appeal, along with the possibility of serious injury, and extended celebration involving opponents and copious amounts of beer.

Sandrine -- be careful about dancing in the streets of DC if france wins the rugby tournament. i checked and there is virtually zero media coverage here of the rugby world cup (and even less general knowledge of the sport). rugby is even less popular than lacrosse (which is played in many secondary schools), a close relative, and that is saying something.

you wrote: "La débâcle (again, I forgot sorry)."

if french want to feel good about their culture, they only need to look at how many english words are taken from french. such as 'debacle." so, you don't have to "remember." someone else wrote yesterday that they didn't know the word for 'voyeurisme.' voila!! remove the 'e.' many times posting here, i have curiously, and probably subconsciously, used an english word stolen from french. i don' believe that french is as interesting sytactically as english, but it has a wonderful gift for nailing certain phenomena with the perfect word.

note: diect tv, and dish tv, both u.s. satellite tv services, will carry some of the games on a delayed basis.

[azloon]

re rugby songs/chants:

my son played rugby at the university of madrid for his liberal arts college team.

their pre-game, group chant, meant to psych everyone up:

"historia... geografia... orgasme.... pornografia!!!!!!!"

i attended one of their games, and the whole show was hilarious (and meant to be).

[richard jones]

Dear old lacrosse. Rugby with a weapon.

[richard jones]

As Azloon says French is an excellent language for nailing exact descriptive words - especially in the humanities, arts, social and political phenomena.
It is not so good with vocabulary connected to science, para-science or technology - economics, IT, business,
engineering etc. etc.
Hopefully English will soon realise this and allow French its place in the international language world, even if the 'precise term - origin French - is surrounded by American English.

[Dominique]

Sandrine,

Nice to see you dancing in the streets again! Lucky you it will be in Washington and not Gare du Nord...

Of course, as a claimed "rabat-joie" and "peine à jouir", i will back the all blacks!

I hope they'll beat the new sports minister of Sarko!

NB : Sarko should not have politicized rugby as he did and apoint Laporte. I know it sounds childish, but he started it!!!!.....;=))

[Baz]

The points mentioned by Azloon are fully discussed in the book "Stylistique comparée du Français et de l'Anglais" by J.-P. Vinay et J. Darbelnet -- two French-Canadians. Written in the 1950's it is still relevant today. I would judge it essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the essential differences between French and English. The book is obtainable through Amazon.fr

[Daniel Strohl]

Sandrine,

"but if we win I'll go dance in the streets of Washington with the French flag !"

Like in Delacroix's painting "La liberté guidant le peuple" (Liberty leading the people) but of course without the bayonets and the pistols ...

If France wins, please send a photograph of the event in Washington to CB - he will no doubt publish it with a good article as usual.

PS : the background of the photograph could be the White House.

[Dominique]

D.Strohl,

Yeaaaahhhh!! Sandrine naked breast on the mall with a french flag!!

I'll dance then....

[Pierre]

I also played rugby on the wing at school Terry, with similar effect. Not helped by being smaller than everyone else and with glasses.

[Steve NL]

Where are the Italians? I thought they're now part of the rugby club. If there are Samoans and Argentines why not Italians ? The French need some Latin allies even if the Italians beat them in the football cup.

[Valentin]

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch. CB"

lol WOW, Charles actually answered Sandrine directly ! :P

[Valentin]

'Like in Delacroix's painting "La liberté guidant le peuple" '

Hmmm... was it that painting with the lovely, warrior girl, her hair in the wind, her breasts gloriously out ? :)
Or maybe I'm wrong!

[Valentin]

On a second thought (ie after reading Dominique): it is quite funny, Daniel speaks of a famous painting on high ideals, and all men remember is la nana's naked breasts. Tzzz...

(ok ok, 'zjust me and D; on the other hand, the others prob don't know the painting! :) )

[Valentin]

On third thought,
notice however that Daniel carefully added "without pistols or bayonets", whereas to decent clothing, pas un traître mot! Like I said: Hmm!

[azloon]

to all males here who have turned discussion of rugby into self-conscious, puerile musings on bare breasts: you're busted !

really, that's an common expression. ask Sandrine.

[Daniel Strohl]

Regarding Delacroix and Sandrine : Honni soit qui mal y pense !

Dominique,

You are right now volunteered to be a member of the "club des affreux Jojo"

Valentin :

At your fourth thought, you too will be a "malgré nous" member of the a.m club !

[Daniel Strohl]

Azloon,

"i don' believe that french is as interesting sytactically as english"

Azloon, was a French CRS clubbing you on the head while you were trying to write "syntactically" ?

Otherwise, I agree totally with you. The English syntax ("syntaxe" in French) is simple, logical and straightforward. French is somewhat more complicated. And a French text is at least 15 percent longer than an English text with the same information contents.

I agree also totally with Richard Johns : "It is not so good with vocabulary connected to science, para-science or technology - economics,IT, business,engineering etc." I have made a number of English - French translations in some of the mentioned fields. It is not always an easy task and one has to sometimes use clumsy periphrasis to translate simple but pregnant words (Examples: push-pull, flip flop, feed back etc.) if one does not want to use English or American words.

[terry]

HAD to play? Rugby was compulsory? Did they force you to play in the pack, Charles? [It was compulsory at my school from age 9 - 14. Yes I was always in the scrum, usually prop. CB, ]

Just as I thought. They forced him into the pack. I cannot think of a better way to ruin a child's love of the game by forcing him to play with the meatheads. Your build seems more hooker than prop but...

I would like to thank all you pack players for stepping on my fingers and kicking me during mauls. Of course, my teammates. Pierre understands.

[Sandrine]

"lol WOW, Charles actually answered Sandrine directly ! :P"

You noticed that too Valentin ?? Oh God, I'm so proud ! I was nearly crying when I saw his answer... Thank you Charles ! ;o)

Anyway, back to more "serious" stuff : you guys completely lost it ! Are you kidding me ? Do you think that I would really go and dance in the streets half naked just because France won ?? Yeah yeah... please stop dreaming ! I couldn't do that even if the reward would be Dominique dancing in the street !

Daniel, what's going on with you ? I was more expecting Terry on this one... How could you ? ;o) And you even ask me to send the picture to Charles ? By the way, if I remember well, "Liberté" was not a black woman !! See, it can't work at all.

"PS : the background of the photograph could be the White House."

Lol, yeah right, what a good idea, I would certainly end up in jail, but hey, what the heck, let's have fun ! ;o)

[Sandrine]

"Lucky you it will be in Washington and not Gare du Nord..."

What makes you think I would enjoy the victory at Gare du Nord ? Nobody enjoys anything in this place. It's, er, "sordide" ! I never go there alone.

But, as I said, let's not sell our bear before it hatches ;o). Je crois que ça porte malheur de se voir vainqueurs avant même le début du tournoi.

You know what Dominique ? I actually agree with you concernig Sarko's pressions on the team. You're not too childish this time, he really exaggerates with this event.

"BTW: I cast my vote for Sandrine as the honary rugby queen here at Charles' place."

Dream on Terry !

Azloon,

"i checked and there is virtually zero media coverage here of the rugby world cup"

Nothing ! Hardly a word. I'll do as I did for the Tour de France, I'll go on the internet. Maybe I'll have more chance this time as I have Direct TV. Do you know the channel ?

Thanks for your help concerning the vocabulary, I wish the english language had its own word for "débacle". Why oh why does it have to be french ? (it's only a rhetorical question, so please Terry, I beg ya, don't answer ! ;o)

[Barrie]

Rugby? A sissy game. Just the same play over and over again. No downfield blocking, no thinking. Just big guys running into each other. The American game is so far ahead of it, it's not funny. That's why it's played as a club sport in the States. So no one will get hurt. They used to play flag football but people were left lying on the field. Not worth watching for more than 2 minutes.

[richard jones]

American football is designed with short, pre-planned plays that only allow some of the team to catch the ball so a play will be conveniently over for the advertising announcements to blast across your TV monitor.
And they all dress up like refugees from a bad computer game too!

"Do you think that I would really go and dance in the streets half naked just because France won"

Well. There is also the honour of ressembling to a famous painting, incarnating an ideal, ch'ais pas, ch'ais pas, I can find half a dozen more very respectable reasons for doing that ! :P

[Sandrine]

"ch'ais pas, ch'ais pas, I can find half a dozen more very respectable reasons for doing that ! :P"

Daniel is that you ? lol, I guess I recognized the "ch'ais".
Well, go ahead, gimme those very respectable reasons so that we share a good laugh !

"Rugby? A sissy game"

Barrie, I don't really like rugby, but "sissy" is definitely not the adjective I'd use to describe it better. And what's "flag football" btw ?

"And they all dress up like refugees from a bad computer game too!"

Excellent Richard :o). I find American football one of the most boring sports I've ever watched. The number of interruptions is really annoying, as if those big big guys couldn't run more than 5 minutes ! And the advertisements ? They are ridiculously numerous !

[azloon]

Sandrine

rugby worldcup will be televised on "versus" channel on direct tv, dish. you'll have to figure out what channel number this is in DC.

re debacle

i can imagine you, of all people, would favor an amercian word over a french one. well, there's always 'disaster' if you must have one. but it has the inference of tangibility that debacle doesn't. that's what i mean: the french just seem to 'get it' with certain words.

why not try pronouncing it with an american accent?:

DUH BOK UHL. imagine homer simpson as you are saying it.

:)

[pouet]

Sandrine,

sure "débâcle" is a french word. But "entrepreneur" as well (remember Georges Bush saying that there is no such word in french as "entrepreneur"?)
I'm sure we can find some other exemples.

[azloon]

Pouet

you know of the texas (u.s.) governor who once said, during a debate on allowing use of spanish in schools and in public services, "if english was good enough for jesus, it's good enough for me."

you can't make this stuff up.

:)

[Daniel Strohl]

Sandrine,

Je n'avais pas prévu ce feu d'artifice général à propos de Delacroix ! Mais ça fait du bien de rire de bon coeur !

Par contre, "ch'ai pas", "ch'ai pas" - C'est pas moi, M'dame, comme dirait Jojo ! Mais je pense connaître l'auteur du délit ...

Pouet,

"no such word in french as "entrepreneur"?)
"Le mur du çon est dépassé" ...

Azloon,

""if english was good enough for jesus, it's good enough for me."

Was GWB the mentioned governor or was it his brother ?

[Sandrine]

Azloon,
It's on versus ? Ok, I won't be able to see the games then. It was the same for the Tour de France. I don't have this channel.

Pouet, I really prefer "entrepreneur", lol, GWB is so funny sometimes, but "débacle" is such a strong and negative word !

I know there are quite a few french words in english. And it's funny to hear the pronunciation, like in the expression : cul de sac (they pronunce the "l" at the end of cul)! ;o)

""if english was good enough for jesus, it's good enough for me."

Oh gosh, tell me he didn't say that for real !! We could write a book with all his "bushisms" !

[redking]

The Bush "entrepreneur" story ia apparently not true, according to the usually reliable Snopes website. Although this assertion *is* based on the say-so of Alastair Campbell ...

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/bush.htm

[pouet]

Redking,

I had the story from the Washington Post. My mistake: I should have checked more carefully.
Thanks

[Sandrine]

Oups, sorry Daniel, I thought it was you. I guess it's Valentin then (he often uses this kind of smiley ":P" at the end of his sentences).

"At your fourth thought, you too will be a "malgré nous" member of the a.m club !"

And by the way, what's this club ?

[azloon]

re jesus quote

attributed to "ma" ferguson, first female governor of texas, in 1925.

some consider this quote an 'urban legend.'

[Valentin]

"Par contre, "ch'ai pas", "ch'ai pas" - C'est pas moi, M'dame, comme dirait Jojo ! Mais je pense connaître l'auteur du délit ..."

I say it was Terry. He did manifest a certain attraction towards French woman, it would make sense, him wanting to know more!

[Valentin]

"And by the way, what's this club ?"

The a-m club ? Aforementioned :) It's the club des Affreux Jojo !

Oh and Terry, please do sign with your own name and stop using my smileys !
:P :D

[Sandrine]

"I say it was Terry."

Yeah right, he never says anything in french on this blog ! Allez arrête ton char Ben Hur on t'a reconnu !!

btw, thanks for the meaning of a.m, I didn't know the abbreviation.

[Daisy]

If Sarko is ordering victory then all I have to say is GO ALL BLACKS!!!

[azloon]

Daniel --

a.m. club ???

the a.m. club is the "affreux jojos" -- a.j. club?

a.m. is abbreviation for "aforementioned?"

straightened me out !!

[Daniel Strohl]

Azloon,

There IS actually an "affreux Jojo" club (or a.j club if you prefer). May I remember you that you are a distinguished member of it? Did you mislay your member ID card, along with your car keys ?

a.m is abbreviation for "aforementioned" (Valentin) or "above mentioned", as it is often used in business correspondance. Or are you as often making fun with highly serious matters ? Can't believe that from an American citizen ....

[azloon]

And he was there for half a day
When he finished he couldn't find the paper
So he shouted out in dismay
Ou est le papier?
Ou est le papier?
Monsieur, monsieur, je fais manure
Ou est le papier ?

rugby song making rounds of games sites in france, sung to tune of la marseillaise

not high art.

i remember one from days gone by:

mr. joneses' father used to own a grocery store
he used to hang his sausauges on the outside of the door.
when kids would come and pass by joneses store they'd shout --

hey, mr. jones your pork is hanging out!!

(sung to a tune resembling battle hymn of the republic)

this was thirty years ago. they must be much raunchier by now.

what is so wonderful about rugby behavior and lore is that men get to be as rude and crude as they truly are deep in their hearts. it's not a pretty sight, miss jane.

[azloon]

"Can't believe that from an American citizen ...."

really wasn't familiar with abbreviation. i know most things, but not everything.

:)

[terry]

Valentin:

I have been unjustly accused. My internet has been out since 9/5/07, which is why I havent been on. You do a good Inspector Clouseau.

[Daniel Strohl]

Terry,

Your Internet has been out for 3 days? I can't believe that this could happen in the United States of America !

[terry]

Azloon's rugby song:

"i remember one from days gone by:

mr. joneses' father used to own a grocery store
he used to hang his sausauges on the outside of the door.
when kids would come and pass by joneses store they'd shout --

hey, mr. jones your pork is hanging out!!"

When did you play rugby, old man? 1925. Rugby song lyrics are much EXTREMELY more explicit now. My favorite is "The S&M Man" sung to the tune of the "The Candyman" from Willy Wonka.
I've been toying with the idea of posting one. Instead, here's some links. Here's your warning, the lyrics are not for the feint hearted.

http://www3.telus.net/PenguinsRFC/Songs2.htm

http://www.geocities.com/shamrockrfc/songlyrics.html