A ‘ring card girl’ in action at a boxing event.
There will be no more ‘grid girls” before Formula One races and no more ‘podium girls” celebrating with the drivers after them, but boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has no plans to get rid of ‘ring card girls’ from his events.
F1 said Wednesday (Thursday NZ time) it will end the long-standing practice of using women on the grid and on the podium with the top three drivers. The Formula One season starts on March 25 at the Australian Grand Prix.
The move follows the scrapping of ‘walk-on girls’ from broadcast events run by the Professional Darts Corporation.
Hearn is the promoter behind Anthony Joshua, who faces Kiwi Joseph Parker in a world title fight next month, and he told the Daily Mirror he had no plans to abolish ring card girls from boxing.
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“They’re not seen on TV and also they are doing a job,” he said.
MARK THOMPSON/GETTY IMAGES
Formula One will no longer use ‘grid girls’.
“The ring card girls are doing a job which they’ve done for many, many years which is letting people know what round is coming up… in a glamorous way.”
Hearn, the son of PDC chairman Barry Hearn, told the Mirror there was a difference between the two sports.
“The darts walk-on girls are essentially escorting the players to the stage and then getting off. They don’t need to be there. That decision has been made in a changing world by broadcasters.”
Thank you @F1 for deciding to stop using grid girls. Another sport making a clear choice about what they want to stand for:
“We feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern day societal norms.” https://t.co/Rrwxf5VcjY— Women’s Sport Trust (@WomenSportTrust) January 31, 2018
At previous F1 races, women dressed in uniform would walk out onto the grid shortly before the start and then stand in front of each driver’s car, holding up the driver’s number. Women would also stand alongside the winner on the podium after the race.The changes also apply to other motorsports series – such as F2 – that take place on GP weekends.
F1 is owned by Liberty Media, which completed its takeover from former commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone in January 2017.
“Over the last year we have looked at a number of areas which we felt needed updating so as to be more in tune with our vision,” Bratches said.
F1’s decision was applauded by the Women’s Sport Trust – a charity raising the visibility and increasing the impact of women’s sport.
“Thank you F1 for deciding to stop using grid girls. Another sport making a clear choice about what they want to stand for,” the trust wrote on Twitter.
Other motorsports have stopped the usage of ‘grid girls.” The World Endurance Championship – which hosts the famous 24 Hours Le Mans race – stopped doing it prior to the start of the 2015 season.
As a one-off move, race organisers at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2015 replaced ‘grid girls” with ‘grid boys” – men in short jeans – a move scoffed at by four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel.
“Why didn’t we have any grid girls today?” Vettel said at the time. “You get there and park behind George or Dave. What’s the point?”
– AP, Stuff
Source :Stuff.co.nz
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