Dong's Top 10 From Paris

After spending the first half of Spring term on the Paris Foreign Study Program, I have witnessed several strange and often amusing events in this city of romance. Nothing has amazed me more, however, than a rugby match I attended a couple of weekends ago. It was a league match between the local team, Stade Paris, and visiting Clermont. Since I had never seen a professional rugby match in my life, I decided to test it out with fellow FSPer Rebecca Hecht '13, who plays on the Dartmouth women's rugby team. Here are the top 10 things that are strange about a French rugby match. Yes, I know some of these seem preposterous I wouldn't have believed some of the things I witnessed at the match if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes.

1. Pink goalposts As it turns out, Stade Paris's primary team color is pink. Bright pink. As a result, several parts of the stadium are pink, including the goalposts (which are similar in shape to the ones used in American football). Imagine an NFL team having pink goalposts in its own stadium. Now please erase that image from your mind.

2. Pre-game band As fans were filing into their seats before the game, there was a pre-game band playing on a stage set up in the middle of the field (think Super Bowl halftime show). The band wasn't the Black Eyed Peas, however, or the Rolling Stones or The Who. The group was an Abba cover band, who sang songs half in English and half in French. An interesting show for sure.

3. The video review system - There were at least two instances when plays were confirmed by video replay during the match. There weren't any red flags thrown onto the field nor was a group of officials huddled by the scorer's table. An extra referee watches replays in a special video room and communicates with the head referee on the field through a microphone system. The whole process is quick, efficient and accurate. So what is Major League Baseball waiting for?

4. Opening Show Unlike at American sporting events where the singing of the national anthem signals the start of a game, a staged production kicked off this match. Forgive me for my lack of detailed knowledge, but it appeared to consist of a group of uncivilized Gaul warriors who walked onto the field on a float boat and defeated a group of Roman soldiers. I didn't get it either.

5. Cheerleaders The cheerleaders at this match were not all that different from their American counterparts. They were sporting sexy outfits and pom-poms in the home team's colors. Except they cheered for both the home team and the away team. As far as I know, American cheerleaders don't go crazy when the opposing team scores a touchdown.

6. Fans For a regular season match between two mediocre teams, the turnout for the match was nothing short of spectacular. Over 70,000 fans filled the stadium, waving banners and flags. Although there was a strong away contingent, the fans of both teams remained civilized, contrary to their soccer counterparts.

7. Insane rugby players Compared to rugby, American football might as well be played two-hand touch. Rugby is essentially American football played without pads and without constant breaks in play. It is two 40-minute halves of constant tackling and never-ending hard hits (even if the sport does contain more rules regarding how a player can tackle).

8. Post-game fireworks There was a bonus fireworks show on the field after the game. The only problem: The game ended at around 4 p.m. on a bright, sunny day. As a result, we could hardly see the fireworks, and instead only heard a popping sound in the air and saw smoke build up around the stadium.

9. Water bottle carriers During each stoppage in play, several remote toy cars were driven around the field, all with water bottles strapped on them. As they went around the field, players could remove the water bottles from the toy cars, drink from them and then put them back onto the cars before they drove back off the field. Pure genius.

10. Pink jerseys Of course the jerseys are pink too. Picture a group of big, muscular men playing a violent sport in bright pink jerseys. Let's stick with Dartmouth green.