I’ve deliberately dodged the Jozef Fritzl hot potato for fear of accidentally making an overly insensitive comment on a story that’s probably worse than most of the jokes that can be made about it. Either that or I just haven’t heard a good one yet. But that’s not really the focus of this post.

Whether it’s Fritzl and his, um, family or Natascha Kampusch and her, um, family, Austrians don’t exactly have the best track record in producing well-adjusted citzens. Sure, they gave us Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mozart (whoopdeedoo), but they also tried to palm Hitler off on the Germans. Tut tut, Austria.

Now the Austrian national rugby team has mucked in. Oh joy.

The…team tried to get over their 48-0 defeat by Lithuania by staging a mass striptease in the capital Vilnius late on Saturday, only to find they had been caught on video and put on the Internet.

“Yes, these were the men we played against on Saturday … I guess the defeat could have prompted them to do that,” Lithuanian rugby federation President Aleksandras Makarenka told Reuters.

Delfi quoted the Vilnius police chief as saying stripping in public could be considered an act of hooliganism — but by then the Austrian team had gone home.

Alrighty then. The video has been taken down from most sites, but you can see it here (scroll to the bottom of the article – the clip is a bit nsfw). If you don’t mind a bit of schnitzel, it’s worth a peek. Fairly amusing. I was a bit bothered by the clear evidence of choreography in the routine, but as every serious rugby player knows, one of the most homo-sensual venues around is the locker-room. Beer, blood, mud, sweat, pain, hairy fat guys = awesome. Don’t you just know it!

But seriously: any Austrians out there care to shed a little light on what’s happening here?