I really has more to do with TV. Actually, Soccer is very homoerotic.
They wear skimpy shorts and often get them pulled down during play.
Soccer players seem more physically comfortable with each other than
American players. They don't seem to care what anybody thinks.

Rubgy, too... I'd love to hear the radio play-by-play of what the
article below describes. It's a strange world, isn't it? American
athletes go around raping and killing people, while Aussies engage in
foreplay with their teammates right on the field. And was nobody
suspicious when they saw this guy carrying around a tube of KY? :-)


Rugger Resigns Over Rectal Fouls
Matt Alsdorf, Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
Wednesday, April 4, 2001 / 05:51 PM

Digital penetration of opposing players while on the field was deemed
"unsportsmanlike interference" by Australian rugby's governing body,
and the offending player has been forced to resign.

An Australian pro rugby player who resigned this weekend after being
caught sticking his finger in opposing players' anuses during a match
is now considering taking legal action against the New Zealand Cancer
Society (NZCS) for using his picture in an advertisement for prostate
cancer checks.

John Hopoate, a winger for the Australian National Rugby League's West
Tigers club, received a 12-week suspension from the NRL judiciary last
week for "unsportsmanlike interference" with three North Queensland
players whom he digitally penetrated. The Associated Press reported
that the resignation came after team management met to consider calls
for his removal.

Hopoate said he believed his decision was in the best interest of the
club and its fans, according to Agence France Presse. "I sincerely
regret that anything I may have done has caused stress, anxiety and
disappointment to everyone involved with the West Tigers," AFP quoted
Hopoate as saying in a statement he released through his manager.

NZCS took out an advertisement in New Zealand's The Dominion newspaper
with a color close-up of Hopoate apparently sticking his finger in
North Queensland captain Paul Bowman's anus. According to the
Australian Associated Press (AAP), the accompanying text reads, "A
bloke's chances of developing prostate cancer increases as he gets
older. If you have symptoms that you're concerned about, consult your
local doctor. It won't hurt a bit -- promise."

The AAP reports that Hopoate and his manager say they were not
consulted by NZCS about use of the image and are "looking at the legal
ramifications." NRL chief executive David Moffett said the ad was
"appalling."

But NZCS's Roger Taylor was quoted by New Zealand's One News as
saying, "It's a difficult message to get across for a difficult
disease ... and we felt our normal health promotion doesn't work that
well and that this was a topical issue that would perhaps get it out
there."

According to AFP, Hopoate, a 27-year-old teetotalling Mormon father of
five, had faced the NRL's disciplinary commission seven times in the
past four years, primarily for fighting.



p.s. Relevancy to this thread: Due to its 8.5-second digital
encoding/transmission/decoding delay, IBOC is incapable of
broadcasting live sporting events in real-time. And since the analog
audio is also delayed to match, spectators who bring a transistor
radio to the game will hear the play-by-play of what happened 8.5
seconds ago!