Boxing Replacing Ring Girls with Ring Boys

Promoters of Saturday night's Battle of Bendigo Jeff Horn v Michael Zerafa have replaced ring card women with men, after coming under fire from local councillors and women's advocate groups.

Most ring girls I know are professional dancers, singers and cheerleaders. They follow a well rehearsed dance routine between fights, they train and work hard to earn what is really not much all considered.

Is this the end of the boxing as we know it?

ringguys.jpg


City of Greater Bendigo councillors Yvonne Wrigglesworth and Jennifer Alden were critical of the between-rounds custom which has been part of boxing for decades.

He said the three women would still be paid and their replacements had been found by his co-promoter, Bendigo resident and Australian 1996 Olympic boxing representative Lynden Hosking.

"Ironically, four women will be fighting tonight and wearing less clothing than those women I have now had to replace with men in response to these protests," Lonergan said.

"As a result of their outcry and concern from sponsors about these uninformed media comments from an organisation that have never raised their concerns with me, shows their agenda is more about headlines than equal opportunity.

Wrigglesworth said women were being objectified in events like The Battle of Bendigo and Alden said stereotypes of this nature was not respectful of women.


Event co-promoter Dean Lonergan said he was disappointed with the criticism and had replaced the three women with males, who would be referred to as 'fight progress managers'.
(Me: Just call them ring boys/men or risk proving their point right?)

One of the replaced women, Kalista Thomas, objected to some of the criticism.
"To undermine my work as a ring card and call it sexualised I feel is absolutely discriminatory," Thomas said.
"Never in my time in the ring or at the fights have I been made to feel less worthy for being there."

 
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The feminists weighing into this imo don't understand the importance of the role ring girls have and primarily why they're there. Most of them aren't carrying cards signalling rounds in busty evening gowns with thigh high splits or wearing a thong, they're in shorts boots and little tops. They're talented dancers.

If anybody has been to a big event where ring girls are absent, or even one I attended where two card girls unusually were dressed in neck to ankle shapeless black shifts with their hair tied back in severe buns, knows the difference ring girls make to a flat crowd and breaking the tension between fights, they take the edge off.

Guys could do it too, no objection if they wanted to get in with the girls and actually do what they do. Even if I don't think they would be quite as effective.

Ring girls = less fights in the crowd = more women at the fights = even less fights in the crowd - more bums on seats. Happy days.
 
Jan 11, 2009
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Didn’t Elias Theadorou do a ring boy gig at an Invicta event? It’s such a trivial issue to get upset about but I guess that’s the way of the world these days. So they aren’t happy with the way it objectifies women but no ones being forced to the job against there will and to fix this they want to take these jobs away from the girls and make guys do it. These people need to focus their energy on real issues.
 
Jul 24, 2009
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Didn’t Elias Theadorou do a ring boy gig at an Invicta event? It’s such a trivial issue to get upset about but I guess that’s the way of the world these days. So they aren’t happy with the way it objectifies women but no ones being forced to the job against there will and to fix this they want to take these jobs away from the girls and make guys do it. These people need to focus their energy on real issues.

Agree, this is a massive storm in a teacup. Those responsible for the complaints should ask the girls they put out of work on Saturday night how they feel about the protests.
 
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