http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/...c789df&k=88940
A FOBulous time playing sexy soccer
It may be one of the best-kept secrets in women's sports: an international all-girls game in which the players drink beer on the pitch, do body shots between halves, and kiss the referee after each game. Once a team is ahead by five points, every subsequent goal requires the leading players to doff an article of clothing, sometimes leaving the field resembling a women's steam room - only with more sweat and athletic cleats on every pair of feet.
Now in its 17th year, Festival of the Babes is a global gathering of "soccer-playing lesbians and women willing to be mistaken for lesbians."
At this year's tournament, which takes place over the August long-weekend in Oregon, Canada will be represented by at least four teams of 12 players from across the country.
"FOB has become a negotiation point for any lesbian who starts a new job; she has to have the Labour Day weekend off," says Julie Johnson, who has participated in 15 of the last 16 events. "It's important, like Christmas. You've got to go every year."
The festival originated in San Francisco in 1991 after a lesbian soccer team from the area competed at the Gay Games in Vancouver, B.C., and felt inspired to host a similar event.
FOB has since grown into a little publicized, but widely attended, event in which hundreds of women from as far away as Scotland - but mostly limited to the U.S. and Canada - come together for a weekend of grrrl power, sportsmanship and strip soccer.
Although the latter element of play is meant to discourage one team from pummelling another, Johnson admits it's evolved into an appealing excuse for throwing games.
"After you get close to five (goals behind) and you're getting beat, you want to see some naked girls. So you start letting them score," she says, laughing.
"Of course, after a while, the neighbours start coming over to watch and we have to tell everyone to put their clothes back on. It's crazy."
Tanya Fader is a member of one of the four Canadian teams that have registered to participate in this year's tournament.
"It's something everyone really looks forward to," says Fader, a Vancouver resident now in her fifth year of attendance at FOB. "I like that when it gets too competitive, groups of women - including myself - will run onto the field and perform particular antics just to take the seriousness out a bit and remind people it's all for fun."
The craziness includes draping the most intense players in feather boas, shooting the referee with a squirt-gun, replacing the soccer ball with a beach ball, and bringing tequila shots onto the field for reinforcements.
According to organizer Myra Lavenue, there are even times when matches are halted altogether in favour of playing an old-fashioned game of spin-the-bottle.
"The mood is really outrageous," says Lavenue. "You have referees dressed in crazy outfits, you have women running around the field with beers in their hands and trying to play soccer at the same time, you have people who hug the goalie or give her a kiss when they score so she doesn't feel so bad ... It's all a celebration of women who love women who love soccer."
A FOBulous time playing sexy soccer
It may be one of the best-kept secrets in women's sports: an international all-girls game in which the players drink beer on the pitch, do body shots between halves, and kiss the referee after each game. Once a team is ahead by five points, every subsequent goal requires the leading players to doff an article of clothing, sometimes leaving the field resembling a women's steam room - only with more sweat and athletic cleats on every pair of feet.
Now in its 17th year, Festival of the Babes is a global gathering of "soccer-playing lesbians and women willing to be mistaken for lesbians."
At this year's tournament, which takes place over the August long-weekend in Oregon, Canada will be represented by at least four teams of 12 players from across the country.
"FOB has become a negotiation point for any lesbian who starts a new job; she has to have the Labour Day weekend off," says Julie Johnson, who has participated in 15 of the last 16 events. "It's important, like Christmas. You've got to go every year."
The festival originated in San Francisco in 1991 after a lesbian soccer team from the area competed at the Gay Games in Vancouver, B.C., and felt inspired to host a similar event.
FOB has since grown into a little publicized, but widely attended, event in which hundreds of women from as far away as Scotland - but mostly limited to the U.S. and Canada - come together for a weekend of grrrl power, sportsmanship and strip soccer.
Although the latter element of play is meant to discourage one team from pummelling another, Johnson admits it's evolved into an appealing excuse for throwing games.
"After you get close to five (goals behind) and you're getting beat, you want to see some naked girls. So you start letting them score," she says, laughing.
"Of course, after a while, the neighbours start coming over to watch and we have to tell everyone to put their clothes back on. It's crazy."
Tanya Fader is a member of one of the four Canadian teams that have registered to participate in this year's tournament.
"It's something everyone really looks forward to," says Fader, a Vancouver resident now in her fifth year of attendance at FOB. "I like that when it gets too competitive, groups of women - including myself - will run onto the field and perform particular antics just to take the seriousness out a bit and remind people it's all for fun."
The craziness includes draping the most intense players in feather boas, shooting the referee with a squirt-gun, replacing the soccer ball with a beach ball, and bringing tequila shots onto the field for reinforcements.
According to organizer Myra Lavenue, there are even times when matches are halted altogether in favour of playing an old-fashioned game of spin-the-bottle.
"The mood is really outrageous," says Lavenue. "You have referees dressed in crazy outfits, you have women running around the field with beers in their hands and trying to play soccer at the same time, you have people who hug the goalie or give her a kiss when they score so she doesn't feel so bad ... It's all a celebration of women who love women who love soccer."