Cheerleaders

Cheerleaders are here to stay - say IPL owners

When the self-righteous moral brigade expresses outrage against the presence of cheerleaders at Indian Premier League (IPL) matches, the franchisees of various teams shove them aside and say that they are looking for "cheap publicity" and nothing else.

Cheerleaders at sporting events was started by ICL in their matches and now is being copied by IPL. This is a western concept.

While politicians in Maharashtra want a ban on cheerleading, police in Mumbai say they have no objection to cheerleaders performing at the matches provided they swap their short skirts and low-cut tops for more conservative gear. Thus Politicians have won in their demands.

Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha says cheerleaders are making a mockery of cricket. This seems to be ridiculous. It is nothing but cheap publicity for his party. Other actors in the film fraternity do not share his viewpoint and rightly so.

India is culturally a very sensitive country. So when one brings in a relatively new concept, some resistance is bound to be there. As the tournament progresses and as the days goes by everything gets forgotten. Since it is election time some party's want to gain from this cheap publicity.

Having cheerleaders is a good idea in itself. Its fun. Its a time pass for people who are present there. It would be better for the cheerleaders to dance at other times too, when no action is taking place on the field.

22md May 2008

Now the cheerleaders allege racial abuse and the BCCI announces that they will look into it if a formal complaint is made to the IPL.

British newspapers carried the story about dancers Ellesha Newton, 22, and Sherinne Anderson, 25, claiming they were stopped from going on stage by organisers ahead of a match involving Kings XI Punjab in Mohali.

The pair of Sherinne Anderson and Ellisha Newton addressed a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday where they said that they were racially discriminated and not allowed to be part of the Mohali team because of the colour of their skin.

Ellesha: In the first match at Mohali in a group of mixed dancers we were the darkest. We were the only ones led off the ground at the first match and we believe it's because of our colour. We were allowed to dance later and we were really upset but we danced because that's what we had come there to do. Again in the second match we were allowed to dance but after that we were not allowed to dance and we have not heard from Wizcraft since then.

Sherinne: It don't want to say much except that I really am not happy with all this and I believe it was because of my skin colour.

Nowadays a technique is also being adopted that is to complain something about someone and then get some publicity.

Cameramen at the matches have been the worst lot who neither show this cheerleaders dance nor the spectators nor the celebrities.

Cameramen are the lazy lot here in all the tournaments.