Less sex, more soccer?
Vienna - No sex please, it’s the Euro. Austrians fear that the Euro 2008 football tournament starting on June 7 will negatively affect their sex lives.
According to a survey released on Wednesday, 30 percent of the Austrian hosts believed there will be less sex during the three-week tournament. Only 14 percent were optimistic, hoping for getting some more, be it for celebrating or consoling those whose team was less lucky.
About half of the participants in the study by Vienna University’s institute for marketing were convinced that time for their partners will be scarce, the Austrian press agency said.
One third expected an increased strain on relationships, but only a small minority thought the football overdose would lead to a rise in break-ups, the study authors said.
However, fights for the TV remote are a given, as more than 70 percent said they were planning to follow the Euro, some of them on a daily basis. Thirty-seven percent said they will adjust their daily schedule according to the Euro timetable, with 11 percent taking time off for the football party.
One in two Austrians said there would be arguments over whether to watch the quarterfinals or the latest romantic comedy.
“It looks like the Euro will influence work and private life of Austrians of all social levels,” study author Reinhard Grohs was quoted as saying.
However the considerable share of anti-Euro people, was a market niche best not to be forgotten, the study said. Those are, not surprisingly, typically women aged 45-plus. Twenty-three percent of the 1 500 people polled said they would not follow the Euro “at all”, and 37 percent said they would avoid locations with high densities of football fans. - Sapa-dpa
