We once told you that half of European men told pollsters that an important game of soccer would totally override a comely lass giving up the… lovin’. Well, Spanish men kept up that train of thinkin’ this past week by skipping Barcelona’s Erotic Film Festival to watch their national team advance in the Euro Cup finals. In total, the film fest lost about 35,000 eligible bachelors to Thursday’s Spain/Russia match, or roughly in porn terms, 6,000 gallons in mop droppings.

About 15,000 people flocked to the three-day International Erotic Film Festival of Barcelona (FICEB), staged for the first time in the Spanish capital this year since it started being held in 1992. Previous editions of the event, which features performances by buxom strippers and appearances by top porn stars, have drawn over 50,000 people.

FICEB director Juli Simon blamed the lower-than-expected turnout on the fact that the festival’s opening day coincided with Spain’s 3-0 Euro 2008 semi-final win over Russia which drew a record Spanish television audience of 17 million.

“Football is one of the few things that can compete with sex,” he told private television station Telecinco.

Yeah, we’ve seen the poll that says that. However, other pastimes on the list that can supposedly compete with sex are A) clearing out your TiVo, B) figuring out what that smell is, and on a really boring night, C) Sodoku, so take those results as you will.

Spain’s success at Euro 2008 hurt erotic film festival [Yahoo]
Image [Yahoo]