Marketer: Rugby should drop cheerleaders

SYDNEY, May 16 (UPI) -- An Australian marketing expert believes that the country's Rugby teams should give up their cheerleaders to get the focus back on the game.

Ro Markson told The Sydney Morning Herald that she thinks the scantily dressed cheerleaders also encourage bad behavior by players.

"Rugby league needs to ban cheerleaders and take the focus away from sex and put it back on sport," she said.

One team, South Sydney, replaced its cheerleaders with drummers two years ago.

Actor Russell Crowe, one of the team's owners, said that managers felt the cheerleaders "made a lot of women uncomfortable."

Sarah Harris, a former cheerleader for the Newcastle Knights, said team management shapes the attitude toward cheerleaders.

"When I was in the squad we didn't get a lot of say in what our costumes were made to look like," she said. "That was decided by the club who told us what to wear. There is a blokey attitude in league and it's coming from higher up."