World T20: We don't need no 'ugly' cheerleaders, say Sri Lanka crowd

There’s an eyesore at the World T20 tournament in Sri Lanka and this one’s a little unexpected. The cheerleaders at the tournament haven’t got the crowd’s mojo going, and therefore there’s an immediate call for their dismissal. The girls just aren’t glamorous enough feels the crowd, and so does the Sri Lanka cricket board. Wearing a rather longish top, with a pin-striped skirt, and skin tights underneath their skirts, the girls pale in comparison to the usual images that the crowd expects of cheerleaders. They’re aren’t hot enough, they aren’t white enough and they certainly aren’t blonde enough. The rules are clear in the minds of all involved: brown women, who aren’t super-skinny can’t be cheerleaders. It’s okay to jeer at them and call them an eyesore. Never mind the fact that these girls are underpaid as the manager of the cheerleaders, Sudev Abeysekara tells the  Hindustan Times, “In an event like this you need good looking girls, and to get the beautiful girls who are professional dancers, you have to pay more. The payment is not that great.” [caption id=“attachment_480544” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Sri Lankan cheerleaders at World T20 . AFP[/caption] He’s clearly saying, the only girls available for less money are poor, ‘ugly’ and unprofessional. He adds to the paper, “The girls are not comfortable, the tights they are wearing slip down while dancing and the girls are busy tying them here and there.” So there you have it. The crowd doesn’t just hate them because they’re simply ‘ugly’ by their beauty standards but also lack the skills that all beautiful women must have when it comes to handling skimpy clothing. Oh and Abeysekara claims he only got seven or eight days to train, hence the uncoordinated dancing. For Sri Lanka, these underpaid, uncoordinated, and gauche girls are an indignation to national pride.   The Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka  writes,

The sorry performance of the so called cheerleaders at the ICC World T20 is not only a disgraceful eyesore but has showcased Sri Lanka in a poor light to the entire world judging by the disparaging comments they have drawn from the international media.

Never mind that their cricket team made it to the finals.  The Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) board has also made it clear that this was all the ICC’s fault, as the Daily Mirror notes. The board is quoted by the paper as saying “We played no part in it. What has happened is that the ICC had given the contract of supplying these cheerleaders to a private company which in turn hired a local company to provide the dancers.  The message is clear from the board. Blame the ICC for this eyesore. We would have gone for white ones. Thanks to the IPL in India, Twenty20 cricket isn’t just about sixes and fours anymore. A bevy of beauties is a must, after all the testosterone-filled crowd needs something else to feast their eyes on. A six isn’t good enough. And for T20 fans all across, a poor, brown-girl in tights can never fit the bill.