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| 'Disneyland' for football fans | | UMPIRE`S POST |
| Suveen K Sinha / New Delhi Sep 13, 2009, 00:57 IST |
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A new league in the sport is looking to cash in on skin show on the field.
Do not be misled by the names of the participating teams. Usually, names like San Diego Seduction, Dallas Desire, Philadelphia Passion and Los Angeles Temptation are a dead giveaway that one is about to be taken for a ride, that there is no hope of finding what the names promise.
However, the Lingerie Football League (yes, you read it right!), the newest organised sport to hit the globe, promises to be the real deal. The four teams mentioned above are among 10 that compete in seven-a-side full-contact American Football matches. And the players — all women, of course — will be dressed in sports bras and tiny little shorts.
LFL, which kicked off in Chicago (trust the Americans to lead the way!) a week or so ago, was born out of the Lingerie Bowl, a half-time show of women in scanty outfits broadcast during the half-time break in NFL’s Super Bowl.
It is not difficult to unravel the marketing strategy behind LFL; it can be easily seen. The teams consist primarily of models with athletic backgrounds. Each of them is physically conditioned — with washboard flat abdomens and fulfilling other parameters of a beautiful body. One of the teams, Chicago Bliss, in its promotional ad, says its players are “some of Chicago’s most beautiful and athletic women competing in 7-on-7 full-contact tackle football on Friday nights”.
The 50-metres long, 30-metres wide field will not allow field goals or punts. The girls will be slamming each other until touchdowns are made. Many are already lamenting that the games last for only an hour or so, as the halves are both 15 minutes.
In a recent interview, Brooke Finneke, 26, a linebacker for Chicago Bliss, was asked what the scene in the LFL locker room was like. “There’s a lot of makeup, a lot of hair spray and a lot of tape — for our wrists and other parts, too,” she said. “We have to keep our lingerie uniforms in place, so there’s a lot of double-sided tape. It’s a big concern that the uniform is going to be ripped off. That’s something I’m trying to avoid, but there’s a chance it could happen.”
It’s not for nothing that the league’s founder has described the venture as “Disneyland for football fans”.
The problem is that some of the players have voiced their desire to be taken seriously. They say they are serious about the game and about winning. That they are real athletes. In that case, why won’t they insist on playing in conventional attire? Probably because thousands of women do play organised games of American Football across the United States in amateur teams wearing conventional uniforms. They arouse little interest among spectators, or sponsors.
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