THE extreme right leader, Mr Jean Marie Le Pen, triggered a new political storm yesterday after accusing players on the French soccer team of being foreigners unable to sing the national anthem.
"It is a bit artificial to bringing players from abroad and call it the French team," the anti immigration politician, known for his proevocative outbursts, told reporters.
"The players in other teams sing their national anthem with all their heart... Most players in the French team don't sing it and don't even know it," he said.
Mr Le Pen's jibe, widely condemned as racist, may turn out to have been a costly political fumble since the popular French squad has already reached the semi finals of the European soccer championship in a glow of national pride. The players are all French citizens, although some are of foreign descent.
Mr Le Pen's National Front issued a quick clarification accusing critics of twisting his words and saying he meant only to grumble that foreign players had been given quick naturalisations.
"This was incredibly stupid, incredibly crude, and in my opinion at least I hope so this will convince some of his voters ... to turn against the party of Jean Marie Le Pen... which is an extremist, racist and dangerous party," Mr Bernard Kouchner of the centre left Radical movement said.
"The French colours are well defended," an irritated French team manager Aime Jacquet told reporters in Manchester.