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Nick Langewis Late Saturday, the athletes, having suffered a 48-0 loss to Lithuania, staged a musical "act of hooliganism," as described by the police chief, in Vilnius, Lithuania's capitol. During the performance, garments were gradually removed in front of a crowd of cheering bar patrons to the tune of "Singin' in the Rain." Video of the event, embedded below, went viral on social site Virb before being picked up by Lithuanian news service Delfi. (WARNING: Frontal nudity!) Österreichischen Rugbyverbandes released the following statement Tuesday: Even though the persons involved were not drunk and no dangerous or harmful actions occurred, this behaviour is totally unacceptable and thus the ÖRV strictly distances itself from it. The ÖRV apologizes to all persons who felt disturbed, offended or emotionally hurt by this behaviour. This was certainly not the intention of the players involved. The ÖRV will forward an official apology to the Lithuanian Rugby Union and after investigating all the details the ÖRV will decide about internal sanctions. "Yes, these were the men we played against on Saturday," confirmed President Aleksandras Makarenka of Regbis Lietuvoje to Reuters. "I guess the defeat could have prompted them to do that."
The Austrian Rugby Union has issued a statement of apology, and could issue sanctions against its national team, after it was discovered that they brought the "Full Monty" to Lithuania.Unfortunately members of the Austrian National Team were involved in the, from several medias reported, incident.
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Originally published on Tuesday May 6, 2008.