Soccer in low light - saturation question

[YARRO]

Here are some pics I took wednesday night. Light was fading fast.
Started with ISO 400 ended up with ISO 3200.
What puzzles me is why the colours are so saturated and vibrant under these poor light conditions. I expected the opposite.
Is this normal, or was this just a fluke?
What causes this?

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.bebingh/asserboys01.jpg

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.bebingh/asserboys02.jpg

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.bebingh/asserboys03.jpg

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.bebingh/asserboys04.jpg

http://home.hccnet.nl/h.bebingh/asserboys05.jpg

[Spencerj]

What white balance setting were you using? if it was set to cloudy it would boost saturation.

[YARRO]

What white balance setting were you using? if it was set to cloudy it would boost saturation.

Indeed, I've used cloudy. Never done that before.
Never had to, so far.
So that is what it does. Boost saturation.
That's nice to know.

I was suprised.
In reality colours were a bit dull and it was a couple of shades darker than can be seen on the pictures.
It almost looks like a bright sunny day on the pictures.

By teh way, what is the best setting for flood lights?

[Mike Bell]

Interesting observation. Must remember to try that!

What noise reduction method did you use in the last two? If you don't mind me saying so I think it is a bit over-done and soft as a result. :)

[YARRO]

Interesting observation. Must remember to try that!

What noise reduction method did you use in the last two? If you don't mind me saying so I think it is a bit over-done and soft as a result. :)

I agree, the noise reduction is way over-done. I've used Neat Image.
First time I tried it. I probably used it after resizing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always thought the white balancing was all about getting the colours right under different light conditions.
That's why I tried the cloudy setting. Resulting in over-saturated pics, that are not true to the real colours...