Saucy photos of some former Winnipeg Blue Bomber cheerleaders show a major disrespect to what most participants see as an athletic and demanding sport, says a local coach.
One photo shows a woman in a Bomber cheerleading uniform cupping the breasts of another woman also clad in the blue and gold outfit. In another photo, a cheerleader moons the camera with the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in the background.
"It's just a bad image. It's an image we don't need," said Nadia El-Gabalawy, who has coached the University of Manitoba Cheerleading Team since 2006.
"What those athletes did ... was a major disrespect to the sport. But at the same time, it's not the entire team that did that, and it's not necessarily the coach that condoned that."
Some of the pictures originally appeared on an American website. The posting was titled: "Oh Canada! CFL Cheerleader Shows More Than Her Patriotic Side."
After the photos were published in local newspapers last week, Blue Lightning dance team coach Dena Clark resigned. Clark joined the volunteer dance group as a cheerleader in 1998, and became its coach in 2003.
Bombers have enough worries
The football club downplayed questions Monday about the photos and resignation.
"Many of the photos are dated from no later than 2005, and involve individuals who no longer have a connection with the franchise or have never been affiliated with Blue Lightning at all," Bomber spokesman Arash Madani said in a statement.
Madani confirmed Clark's departure, but declined further comment, saying the team wants to focus on Thursday's home game against the Calgary Stampeders.
Winnipeg is 0-4 this season.
"You know, I've got enough problems of my own," said Bomber head coach Doug Berry when asked about the cheerleading situation after the team's practice Monday in Winnipeg.
Ken Sessan, a Bomber fan who watched the practice from the sidelines, said the whole affair has been "blown out of proportion."
"I don't think it's a big deal at all. It's an isolated incident."
