No, the literal translation of “Dieux du Stade” is not “naked rugby”. The French expression refers to the Olympics and to Ancient Greece. And to “le Stade Français”, the name of the elite rugby club where the guys in the calendar play.

Dieux du Stade can literally be translated into English by the expression “Gods of the Stadium”. It is a play on a popular expression in French “être un dieu du stade” (“to be a god of the stadium”) and the name of the Stade Français rugby club.

The guys of the calendar are then both the gods of the Stade Français and the gods of the rugby stadium.
(My article continues below the video).

OK, but what does the expression “god of the stadium” mean?

In French, an athlete is called a god of the stadium when he/she builds an exceptional sports career. It implies reverence from the onlookers sitting in the stadium towards their living god accomplishing in inhuman effort.

No wonder that this expression captures the awe of the crowd for unbelievable sports records, as the gods of the stadium came into the French language via Olympia in Ancient Greece.

According to legend, Heracles created the Olympic Games and built the orginal Olympic Stadium. He walked in a straignt line for 400 strides and called the distance a “stadion”. And yes, the latin translation to “stadion” is “stadium”.

The Olympics were a very religious affair. Athletes who won were heavily celebrated. People erected statues in their names. They were treated as semi-gods or gods.

Credit

So, it was not a bad idea to call the calendar after revered nude athletes from Ancient Greece. The quality of the pictures does recall sculptures like those by Praxiteles.

Voilà, now you can amaze your friends with your knowledge on Ancient Greece, the origin of the word stadium, and your sexy DIEVX DV STADE calendar.

Oh yes, and the “DIEVX DV STADE” spelling is used instead of regular “DIEUX DU STADE” just because it looks more “ancient”. The Romans had only letter for both U and V. So the marketers behind the calendar changed DIEUX into DIEVX and DU into DV.

See how much you can learn from a bunch of naked rugby players?