Latest news with #LaMarseillaise
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Brisbane Lions win goes viral after French woman hears her anthem and calls Bill Stephen's team song stolen
Brisbane Lions win goes viral after French woman hears her anthem and calls Bill Stephen's team song stolen (Image Via X) A French traveller, known on TikTok as @bonjourmelbourne, was stunned during a Brisbane Lions match at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Thursday night. As the Brisbane Lions sang their theme song after defeating Carlton by 37 points, she suddenly recognised the tune. With her jaw dropping, she asked: 'Can someone explain why the French anthem is the Brisbane Lions theme song?' This unexpected realisation sparked surprise and curiosity across social media and among footy fans. Bill Stephen and the 1952 inspiration at Fitzroy On an end-of-season trip to Perth in 1952, former Fitzroy player Bill Stephen and his teammates were riding a train when they watched the film Casablanca. In one scene, German soldiers sing their anthem in a restaurant, but are eventually drowned out by the French singing La Marseillaise. Bill Stephen, struck by the moment, decided Fitzroy needed a unifying song. — lionsdi (@lionsdi) He then used the tune of La Marseillaise to create a team song. He wrote the first line, 'We are the boys from Fitzroy, my lads,' and invited other players to contribute lines. They reportedly sang it around 30,000 times by the time they returned to Melbourne. Though the French Embassy expressed concern, its officials accepted the song as a tribute. The tune became the enduring anthem of Fitzroy. Also Read: AFL Loses A Gem: 40-Year-Old Troy Selwood, A Former Brisbane Lions Midfielder Josh Dunkley, Noah Answerth and modern context in Melbourne At Marvel Stadium on Thursday, the Brisbane Lions, now playing under the merged identity of Fitzroy and Brisbane Bears since 1997, celebrated their 15.13 (103) to 9.12 (66) victory over the Carlton Blues. Key players included Josh Dunkley (28 disposals, 13 tackles), awarded the inaugural Robert Walls Medal; Lachie Neale (31 disposals); Dayne Zorko (28); Will Ashcroft (28); and Charlie Cameron, who scored three goals. The only downside was a suspected season‑ending Achilles injury to defender Noah Answerth, substituted before halftime. Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan praised the team's pressure tactics: 'We got 35 forward-half turnovers, 20 tackles inside‑50… All that was on the back of pressure and good tackling.' After the win, the stadium resonated with 'The Pride of Brisbane Town', its melody unmistakably French which left the French visitor in awe and many football fans amused. This amazing connection between French national pride and Australian football spanned decades from Bill Stephen's 1952 matchday inspiration to the modern roar of Brisbane Lions players and fans. For real-time updates, scores, and highlights, follow our live coverage of the India vs England Test match here. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!
Sydney Morning Herald
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Beloved French veterans spice up this frothy love triangle
RIVIERA REVENGE ★★★½ M. 94 minutes. In cinemas Riviera Revenge is French cinema at its frothiest, with three of its most beloved veterans leading the dance. Sabine Azéma and André Dussollier are cast as Annie and Francois, a couple whose 50- year marriage is based on her willingness to put up with his prejudices. A retired general, he's prone to injecting military attitudes and routines into their family life, as we see during the opening scene at Annie's birthday lunch when he junks a chorus of Happy Birthday in favour of celebrating her with his own rewritten version of the La Marseillaise. His eldest son, Amaury (Gael Giraudeau), who has followed him into the army, cheerfully sings along, but Amaury's siblings, Adrien (Sebastien Chassagne) and Capucine (Joséphine De Meaux) can only hang their heads and look glum. Shortly afterwards, however, Francois' world comes crashing down around his own head with his discovery of a bundle of love letters revealing a fling that Annie had with one of their friends 35 years earlier. Writer-director Ivan Calbérac, who is also a playwright, came up with his script after reading a news report about a 92-year-old Sicilian who became Italy's oldest divorcee when he split with his wife of many years after a similar revelation. Calbérac decided that an adaptation of the story could be perfect for Azéma and Dussollier, who have played husband and wife on screen no less than 10 times. And as Boris, the third member of the love triangle, he settled on the suave Thierry Lhermitte, whose own long career has centred on his mastery of the comedy of manners. When confronted with the letters, Annie responds with a perfect Gallic shrug and says it all happened so long ago that she can barely remember it.
The Age
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Beloved French veterans spice up this frothy love triangle
RIVIERA REVENGE ★★★½ M. 94 minutes. In cinemas Riviera Revenge is French cinema at its frothiest, with three of its most beloved veterans leading the dance. Sabine Azéma and André Dussollier are cast as Annie and Francois, a couple whose 50- year marriage is based on her willingness to put up with his prejudices. A retired general, he's prone to injecting military attitudes and routines into their family life, as we see during the opening scene at Annie's birthday lunch when he junks a chorus of Happy Birthday in favour of celebrating her with his own rewritten version of the La Marseillaise. His eldest son, Amaury (Gael Giraudeau), who has followed him into the army, cheerfully sings along, but Amaury's siblings, Adrien (Sebastien Chassagne) and Capucine (Joséphine De Meaux) can only hang their heads and look glum. Shortly afterwards, however, Francois' world comes crashing down around his own head with his discovery of a bundle of love letters revealing a fling that Annie had with one of their friends 35 years earlier. Writer-director Ivan Calbérac, who is also a playwright, came up with his script after reading a news report about a 92-year-old Sicilian who became Italy's oldest divorcee when he split with his wife of many years after a similar revelation. Calbérac decided that an adaptation of the story could be perfect for Azéma and Dussollier, who have played husband and wife on screen no less than 10 times. And as Boris, the third member of the love triangle, he settled on the suave Thierry Lhermitte, whose own long career has centred on his mastery of the comedy of manners. When confronted with the letters, Annie responds with a perfect Gallic shrug and says it all happened so long ago that she can barely remember it.
Hindustan Times
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
How can the French find joi at Roland Garros again
The Philippe Chatrier, a steely colosseum of right angles outside is anything but steely inside. Fifteen thousand people are losing their minds. Roland Garros 2025's last surviving French player — a wild card ranked world no. 361 about whom there is still no information on her player page (neither place of birth, height, weight, playing style or name of coach) had just knocked out her second-successive seeded player. If it was no. 3 Jessica Pegula on Monday, Wednesday was reserved for no.6 Mirra Andreeva, a rising star of women's tennis, who melted in the Chatrier's heat and noise. The La Marseillaise was sung in one stand, national flags were being waved in the other, there was chanting and booing. Lois Boisson became the first French player since 2016 and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga to reach a Roland Garros semi-final, which is where her run ended. Boisson is a scrapper from nowhere who went unnoticed over the first week of an event which had witnessed the disappearance of more celebrated French players from the draw. This after the hosts have 10 men and two women in the top 100. When she took down Pegula, nobody even knew who she was. But the absence of the French at the business end is a distressingly annual Roland Garros custom. 'The last one who went to the final is me… 88' says Henri Leconte, a very 21st century Mousquetaire, dressed in an old-style bomber jacket. 'We need an Italian - we need someone who can play on clay.' Leconte is not being glib when he's talking of Italian-origin players for France but rather focusing on clay court expertise. 'We need to organise ourselves and with our juniors to go and see different academies like (Riccardo) Piatti and Rafa's…' When someone standing behind us suggests 'Patrick?' referring to Patrick Mouratoglu, Leconte is quick to respond 'Patrick, no…. this is not on clay, first of all most of his sport is on hard court. And I think we need to go and see how the best one for clay - which is Spain - how they prepare themselves for Roland Garros.' He is emphatic, 'To win at Roland Garros you need to practice on clay, you need to play on clay almost all year and come back…' The French love for clay as a natural surface that is both demanding and forgiving is to be sensed in Leconte's incantation, 'Because we know that the best surface to work on, to be physically strong on is clay. If you move well on clay, you move well everywhere. If you play well on clay, you play well everywhere - different techniques, different mentality.' It is as if Leconte is asking for a sustained devotion to excelling on clay as the French players' path to the Roland Garros grail. Are the French spending too much time in a year on alien surfaces aka hard court? He says, 'If you want to win on Roland Garros you have to practice on clay, if they don't like the surface, if they don't like to play on Roland Garros, if they don't like the pressure…' Himself a consummate 'acteur' across his home courts (three semis to go with the one final), Leconte says 'maybe' the French players find playing at Roland Garros too daunting, but adds, 'but the pressure is yourself…' because in reality, ' it's not there. But our players, they have to train, train, train.' We're standing in a hall beneath the Tenniseum as part of the Emirates Legends Trophy media meet at an event where 12 men and 12 women compete in an exhibition competition. The good and great of French tennis are around and Guy Forget, former world top 5 pro and successful Davis Cup captain points out to the era that has gone. 'When Rafa won 14 times here, we had four players in the top 10 overs. When Rafa didn't win, it was Roger and when Roger didn't win it was Novak and of course you get the leftovers.' This year, injuries to the two top 20 Frenchmen this year - Arthur Fils and Ugo Hubert - have been, he said, 'well, a bummer.' Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin, who made world no. 12 and won two WTA titles before injury curtailed her career, has a different take on where the French game is at. At too much. The French Tennis Federation (FFT) supports promising juniors till the age of 18 without, many believe, the pressure to produce results. 'There's many issues,' Golovin said, 'The fact that the FFT gives so many opportunities, so many things to kids that they don't develop basically that hunger or the ability to sacrifice, because everything is kind of given to them.' The lack of a leader or a role model she said had caused a gap in trying to pull in a new generation of kids for the better part of a decade, 'motivating everyone to go up - that's an issue too.' Her summary of French tennis is simple, 'Because if there's not enough work done on a daily basis and if you're not going forward, you're going backwards.' The sudden resurgence of the Frenchmen in the upper orders of the ATP rankings has incited much optimism, like Forget says, 'A guy like Fils has a great game for clay - this was his first year at RG. Next year he will come back with good physical ability and he'll hopefully be able to be in the second week and why not in the semis.' M. Forget and les hommes have reason to be upbeat. But in the background there's an echo of a few polite 'excusez-mois' in the air. From a trio of past French Grand Slam title winners. Their names: Marion Bartoli, Amelie Mauresmo and Mary Pierce. And perhaps Boisson will one day follow in their footsteps. The French even have a saying for this: cherchez la femme. Look for the woman.
Straits Times
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Fit and firing Boisson dares to dream as stunning French Open run rolls on
PARIS - At Roland Garros, a venue that has crushed generations of French players, world number 361 Lois Boisson is daring to dream of an improbable triumph after she stormed into the French Open semi-finals on Wednesday to continue her magnificent run. The 22-year-old, in a Grand Slam main draw for the first time, beat Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals having knocked out world number three Jessica Pegula in the previous round. Her WTA ranking belies the true level of Boisson, who was hovering around the 150th place when she sustained a serious knee injury a year ago. Now that she's fit, she is firing and has her eyes firmly fixed on the biggest prize. "For sure, every tennis player dreams of winning a Slam - and for a French player, Roland Garros even more so. I'll go for it because my dream is to win the final, not the semi-final,' Boisson, who will at least break into the world's top 70 next week, told a press conference. The daughter of a former professional basketball player, she has lit up the clay courts in Paris with her gutsy performances and calm demeanour under pressure — a far cry from how she used to be. "When I started tennis, I was very nervous, very emotional on court," Boisson, who faces world number two Coco Gauff on Thursday, told reporters. "It was hurting me too much. I realised I wouldn't go far if I stayed like that. I learned to control it." Boisson, who overcame Andreeva in a tense quarter-final, spoke of how her preparation remains constant whether she is facing a top-10 player or a qualifier. "The preparation is pretty much the same, whether it's against a number 300 or a top 10,' she said. "We analyse the opponent, then I focus on what I have to do with my gameplan.' GOOSEBUMPS Asked about the growing attention on her following her unexpected run, Boisson, who will pocket at least a 690,000 euro ($788,532) cheque for her participation in the semi-finals and can expect almost as much in endorsements and sponsorships, said: 'I don't really think about what's next. I just try to stay focused on this tournament. I'm enjoying what I receive on court and outside the court - it's incredible." The support from the French crowd has been electric, with chants and La Marseillaise ringing around Court Philippe Chatrier on Wednesday. 'At the warm-up, when they played La Marseillaise, I wasn't expecting it - it gave me goosebumps,' she said. 'Having the public behind me like this, it's a real boost.' Boisson said she had learned to embrace the pressure of playing at home - a prospect that has frozen generations of French players at Roland Garros. "Every player feels pressure, maybe more so for a French player at Roland Garros. But you have to deal with it, otherwise you can't win any matches," she said. "I can deal with it — it's okay." Her form has not improved by chance, she stressed. 'It's not a miracle. Maybe a little bit of luck, yes, but it's a lot of hard work too — especially after last year and my rehab.' Boisson, whose varied game has unsettled opponents throughout the tournament, said her natural style has always been one of variety and flair. "My game has always been like that, with a lot of variation. The more I train, the more I can fine-tune it. Maybe my forehand ball is a little different from the other girls'." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
