Essex’s ‘Walk on Girls’ over Cheerleaders in Cricket Debate

Even as the jury is still out on the subject of having cheerleaders in cricket, Essex country cricket is set to bring in more controversy by introducing walk on girls into their fixture. Where is this sexist notion heading?

Motorsport Grid Girls

One has to wonder whether Steve Davies’ announcing that he is gay had anything to do with Essex’s attempts to add more glamour to the sport, as is their intention in bringing in more girls of a different variety to the sport. The concept of walk on girls is even more alien to the sport than the cheerleaders that are sometimes brazenly displayed in a desperate attempt to enhance cricket viewing.

If the idea of having cheerleaders raised a storm of reaction in India, particularly with the many foreign girls being preferred, walk on girls are drawing a broad range of reactions from the cricket fraternity in England. Not everyone is thrilled by the proposition of having walk on girls accompany the cricketers as they step onto the field, particularly at a time when there is a greater need to bring more recognition to the women who have taken up the sport to represent their country.

Grid Girls

For those unfamiliar with the concept of ‘walk on girls’, those who are familiar watching other events such as motorsport and Formula One often see girls scantily clad in high heels walking in front of teams and sportspersons. They are also referred to as grid girls. And Essex is certainly not hiding the fact that they are introducing the girls with the sole interest of adding more glamour to the event.Obviously they feel even a minute or two spent as the walk on girls make their presence felt will add greatly to the viewership and entertainment value of the match to follow.

The cheerleaders raised plenty of controversies in the time that they have become a mandatory trend in the IPL in India, with the South African cheerleaders associated with the Mumbai Indians, Gabriella Pasqualotto, raising hair in the IPL 4 season when she felt that the ladies’ hemlines were strategically designed to titillate, that the cricketers preyed upon them in the after hours like meat and the cheerleading moves had been modified to make it more in line with how the audiences would see dancers.

But if one thought that the idea would raise eyebrows in a country like India that is rather divided on the concept of having cheerleaders on the cricket field, leave alone in the television studio, a desperate move as some have termed it, the reactions from England are equally disturbed. Unsure of how to accept this new experimentation, particularly when it furthers the idea of idea of women as sex objects to lure spectators to a sports event that has a following that does not necessarily need to resort to such devices, the idea is certainly gathering up a storm. Final reactions will perhaps be reserved until the walk on girls actually walk on by.