THE RL1908 BLOG
News, Reviews & Opinion - Sean Fagan - RL1908.com
 The drive towards improving the code's image with women, has brought into question with some people whether NRL cheerleaders should be a part of the routine of game day at rugby league matches.
Cheerleaders are hardly a new phenomenen in rugby league, having made their first appearance in Sydney football in the late 1960s.
NFL clubs in the United States argue that it is far from demeaning to women - most NRL club cheerleading teams are made up of dancers and gymnasts, following pre-rehearsed routines.
As the Amercians have reasoned, match day fans see the boys playing football, and the girls dancing - its part of the all encompassing entertainment package.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs replaced their cheerleaders with drummers for 2007.
"Our focus," Rabbitohs co-owner Russell Crowe was quoted as saying, "is to re-establish rugby league and women. The focus on game day should be a positive experience for the crowd. We feel the [cheerleaders] made a lot of people uncomfortable … We felt we didn't need cheerleaders and would like them replaced by a group of drummers, male and female."
The debate, no doubt, will continue.
Related links:
Cheerleaders say it loud and proud: we're not bimbos
Cheerleading's nothing but trivial booty-shaking
Cheerio cheerleaders as Rabbitohs dump bunny girls
Giant leap for man - the NRL's only male cheerleader
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