The Sydney Stingers are going to the Paris Gay Games. | Photo: Supplied
One of Australia’s leading LGBTI water polo teams, has made a hilarious video to throw shade at its competitors ahead of next month’s Gay Games.
The Sydney Stingers stripped down to their ‘togs’ (Aussie for swimwear) at Sydney’s Circular Quay, home of the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
Reworking RuPaul’s ‘Read U, Wrote U’ anthem, the Stingers had a message for other water polo teams at the Gay Games in Paris next month.
‘Hey France, how the bloody hell are ya? Stingers here from the shores of Down Under, training hard all night and all day,’ the song starts.
‘A to the U to the ‘stralia’, oh that’s right, our moves are going to slay ya.’
They Sydney Stingers at Circular Quay. | Photo: Facebook
Formed in 2001 the four Stingers’ teams have become a well known fixture in local water polo competitions.
The Read U, Wrote U clip features the women’s team and a range of Aussie icons.
Ivan Buckingham created the video along with the Sydney Stingers Paris Gay Games Planning Committee. Stingers’ members Nathen Brown and Nicola Ghirardi also helped out.
‘We really wanted to be quintessentially Aussie so the characters are: a surfer/lifesaver, Aerobics Oz-Style, Kylie Minogue, Crocodile Dundee, and a kind of leather/cub cliche,’ Buckingham told Gay Star News.
The lead performers are wearing the special edition Paris Gay Games competition swimwear. The swimwear features the Stingers’s logo and a psychedelic rainbow-vomiting kangaroo.
The women’s team show of the Gay Games uniform. | Photo: Supplied
Water polo shade videos are thing apparently
There is a strong tradition of LGBTI water polo teams making shady videos ahead of competitions. It’s also not the first time the Stingers have created a spoof video.
In 2016 the Stingers covered Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and did a cabaret performance for their French-themed Trivia Night fundraiser earlier this year.
Last year the Toronto Triggerfish did a video called Shade to which the Miami Vice responded with Strut ahead of the Miami Out Games.
The Sydney Stingers stripped down to throw some shade. | Photo: Facebook
Do the videos work?
While the videos are made in good faith, the Sydney Stingers are confident they’ll do well at the Gay Games.
‘We want to tell the Gay Games competitors and the “Champagne waterpolo league” that the Stingers are coming to Paris, in full force! It’s a bit of a smackdown video, and a whole lot of fun,’ Buckingham said.
‘Club growth has been phenomenal in the last couple of years so we’ve got a great talent pool to draw from. Competition will be tough but we are expecting to put in a strong showing.’
