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Crowe's rugby team fires its cheerleaders

Actor, part-owner says spectators 'uncomfortable' with sexily-clad women

South Sydney Rabbitohs cheerleaders
The South Sydney Rabbitohs cheerleaders perform at a game in Sydney last year
Grant Trouville / Action Photogr / Reuters
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updated 7:42 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2007

SYDNEY, Australia - Russell Crowe says his rugby league club’s cheerleading squad is being cut because skimpily clad cheerleaders detract from the game and make spectators uncomfortable.

The Oscar-winning actor, who is part-owner in the South Sydney Rabbitohs club, said the club had become concerned that the cheerleaders — whose uniform includes fishnet stockings and tasseled miniskirts in the white, green and red team colors — were inappropriate entertainment.

“It makes women uncomfortable and it makes blokes who take their son to the football also uncomfortable,” Crowe was quoted as saying in News Ltd. newspapers Friday.

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“We examined game day and wanted to contemporize and make the focus (on) football,” he said.

Crowe
Francois Mori / AP
Australian film star Russell Crowe won an Oscar in 2001 for “Gladiator.” The 42-year-old actor has also received Oscar nominations for “The Insider” and “A Beautiful Mind.”

A team of percussionists will replace the cheerleaders, the club announced this week. The club’s Web site invited drummers to audition.

Crowe, a longtime Rabbitohs supporter, helped save the club from obscurity a few years ago before buying a major stake in 2006.

He won an Oscar in 2001 for “Gladiator.” The 42-year-old actor has also received Oscar nominations for “The Insider” and “A Beautiful Mind.”

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