Hackers Mistake French Rugby Club for German Stock Exchange

A fan site for a French rugby union team is recovering after hackers mistook it for the website of the German stock exchange and launched an attack.

The allezdax.com website for second division Dax in rugby-loving south-west France was shut down for two weeks after its usual 700 daily page hits -- 1,200 on match days -- skyrocketed to 80,000 because of the attack.

"Our defenses were certainly inadequate," one of the site's administrators who gave his name as Stephane, told the France Bleu Gascogne radio station.

He said the hackers had "insulted us copiously in German", thinking they were something to do with the DAX, Germany's blue-chip stock market index.

"I only have one thing to say to them: leave us alone!" Stephane said.

"Having been attacked full-on by a young, spotty Teuton, the site is back with more security," the site's homepage said on Thursday.

The site notes that as a result of the attack, it is now twice as popular as the Dax team's official site.