People U turning and modifying their opinions now that they know the girls are reading the thread is cringe.
There's been very few personal comments on here (dont know about fb) for the most part people have said no cause it's tacky to have it at football. And not being funny but if you are expecting a football crowd to behave like a gentlemanly hive mind and not have even one or two 'laddish' comments then you must be delusional.
The mistake was nothing to do with what has been posted, it was to have even considered this a valid idea in the first place.
I have a solution. They can entertain the 35 members in Crossbars, pre match, at half time and post match. I will even enjoy a quick peek at HT to watch them all doing the Mexican Wave. Added entertainment value to the package and everyone's happy :-)
Not a fan of cheerleaders at football but would find it hard to get as worked up about it as most seem to on here. Would not affect me in any way in reality.
It's a big no from me to Cheerleaders, goal music or any other kind of gimmick. And no Mexican waves either please - although i can't remember seeing one at Charlton for eons.
Lots of posts on here of people just saying "no" and I can not be bothered to go through them all to see if this has been posted:
From one of the cheerleaders Facebook pages, accompanied with images from this forum...
"So earlier this year the University of Greenwich decided to sponsor Charlton Athletic. Following this, Charlton contacted the chairlady of my squad, the University of Greenwich Mermaids, and asked if we could cheer at Charlton’s home games. After Melissa and I had a long discussion about this opportunity, weighing up the pro’s and con’s, we decided to go for a meeting and see what would be in store. Before the meeting began, I made it clear that I didn’t like the idea of my girls and boys, being out there in minimal clothing, that isn’t what we are about, so we agreed that we would be wearing Charlton Athletic Football kits, and would wear our cheerleading bows in our hair. We discussed that we would sell programme’s before, during and after games and we would stand during the matches and cheer along with the crowd at the game. It was suggested by Charlton that we should try and get the fans more involved in the games and that they want to expand their fan base. After being approached by a journalist from the Greenwich Visitor, Melissa and some of the girls went to meet him in Greenwich Park and talk about what cheerleading is, and what being a cheerleader entails. Mentioning about Charlton Athletic, the whole article then became about the new link we have with them. The day the article was released, we started to receive tweets from Charlton Supporters, and it started to trend on twitter. It was made very clear, that Charlton Supporters didn’t want us at their games. After being just a little annoyed at their reaction, we then discovered Charlton’s public forum, where their fans expressed their opinions on the cheerleaders being at their matches. Reading through I was absolutely disgusted at what some of these ‘adults’ had to say. No only were some of them showing their anger towards cheerleaders being present at the matches, but they were commenting on the look of some of my girls. There are 6 of the girls in the picture on the article and some of the comments became very personal. Changing the name ‘Charlton Cherubs’ (which was still to be discussed) to ‘Charlton Chubbies’, stating that we are not Miss England Material, and that we are not beauty pageant queens. But most them going onto say, they don’t want ‘palace cheerleaders’ at their matches. Who, in my opinion could be Miss England, as some of them are stunning! So what do they want? Some of the fans mention that they don’t want half time dances and goal music, well I would love somebody to tell me where they have found this information, because no where has this been stated. In fact, we agreed that we probably won’t be doing half time dances, just selling programmes and helping out where we can. People then went on to comment about cheerleading itself, stating how no squad in the UK, are any where near as good as those in the US. Funny that, because we have UK teams that compete against the US. But I mean, these fans must have done their research first. I actually sat and read all 10 pages of negativity from the Charlton fans, and after reading comments about being ‘BOOOOOD’ off, and the hate we are going to receive, I am happy to say that we will no longer be cheering at the Charlton matches. My squad is full of the most beautiful, natural looking, nice girls and boys you will meet. There is no way I am going to let them go out there, for free, I might like to add, and cheer on a team who have the most awful fans in the championship league. Fair enough express your opinion about not wanting cheerleaders, but when it becomes personal, Charlton Athletic fans, you should be ASHAMED!!"
Edit: Removed the link to her profile as I don't trust you lot.
Cheer up Beth, at least you've now got Saturday afternoons free!!!
I dont think she's read the thread and peoples comments properly and i can forgive that as she was probably upset;
Who, in my opinion could be Miss England, as some of them are stunning! So what do they want? I dont think we want anything other than a good atmosphere. The majority of comments have been about what we dont want...and thats cheerleaders.
Some of the fans mention that they don’t want half time dances and goal music, well I would love somebody to tell me where they have found this information, because no where has this been stated. Nobody has claimed this has been stated. Its been mentioned as 'whatever next' type of situation.
People then went on to comment about cheerleading itself, stating how no squad in the UK, are any where near as good as those in the US. Funny that, because we have UK teams that compete against the US. England compete against San Marino..doesnt mean they are as good though does it. (ok thats a little bit harsh)
actually sat and read all 10 pages of negativity from the Charlton fans, I doubt theres even 10 comments of actually negativity. If people have been personal then its not on and i can understand her being upset. We just dont want cheerleaders!..if anything thats positive!
There is no way I am going to let them go out there, for free, I might like to add, and cheer on a team who have the most awful fans in the championship league. Good luck down the Den!!!!
I don't see why the girls are getting so much stick when it was actually Charlton who approached them with the idea and name, as their university now sponsors the team. From what I understand they were going to be wearing full kits not half dressed, getting kids involved and selling programmes. It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
Lots of posts on here of people just saying "no" and I can not be bothered to go through them all to see if this has been posted:
From one of the cheerleaders Facebook pages, accompanied with images from this forum...
"So earlier this year the University of Greenwich decided to sponsor Charlton Athletic. Following this, Charlton contacted the chairlady of my squad, the University of Greenwich Mermaids, and asked if we could cheer at Charlton’s home games. After Melissa and I had a long discussion about this opportunity, weighing up the pro’s and con’s, we decided to go for a meeting and see what would be in store. Before the meeting began, I made it clear that I didn’t like the idea of my girls and boys, being out there in minimal clothing, that isn’t what we are about, so we agreed that we would be wearing Charlton Athletic Football kits, and would wear our cheerleading bows in our hair. We discussed that we would sell programme’s before, during and after games and we would stand during the matches and cheer along with the crowd at the game. It was suggested by Charlton that we should try and get the fans more involved in the games and that they want to expand their fan base. After being approached by a journalist from the Greenwich Visitor, Melissa and some of the girls went to meet him in Greenwich Park and talk about what cheerleading is, and what being a cheerleader entails. Mentioning about Charlton Athletic, the whole article then became about the new link we have with them. The day the article was released, we started to receive tweets from Charlton Supporters, and it started to trend on twitter. It was made very clear, that Charlton Supporters didn’t want us at their games. After being just a little annoyed at their reaction, we then discovered Charlton’s public forum, where their fans expressed their opinions on the cheerleaders being at their matches. Reading through I was absolutely disgusted at what some of these ‘adults’ had to say. No only were some of them showing their anger towards cheerleaders being present at the matches, but they were commenting on the look of some of my girls. There are 6 of the girls in the picture on the article and some of the comments became very personal. Changing the name ‘Charlton Cherubs’ (which was still to be discussed) to ‘Charlton Chubbies’, stating that we are not Miss England Material, and that we are not beauty pageant queens. But most them going onto say, they don’t want ‘palace cheerleaders’ at their matches. Who, in my opinion could be Miss England, as some of them are stunning! So what do they want? Some of the fans mention that they don’t want half time dances and goal music, well I would love somebody to tell me where they have found this information, because no where has this been stated. In fact, we agreed that we probably won’t be doing half time dances, just selling programmes and helping out where we can. People then went on to comment about cheerleading itself, stating how no squad in the UK, are any where near as good as those in the US. Funny that, because we have UK teams that compete against the US. But I mean, these fans must have done their research first. I actually sat and read all 10 pages of negativity from the Charlton fans, and after reading comments about being ‘BOOOOOD’ off, and the hate we are going to receive, I am happy to say that we will no longer be cheering at the Charlton matches. My squad is full of the most beautiful, natural looking, nice girls and boys you will meet. There is no way I am going to let them go out there, for free, I might like to add, and cheer on a team who have the most awful fans in the championship league. Fair enough express your opinion about not wanting cheerleaders, but when it becomes personal, Charlton Athletic fans, you should be ASHAMED!!"
Edit: Removed the link to her profile as I don't trust you lot.
After reading that I think its a bit harsh, majority of people just said no, there was a couple of comments about looks but it was mainly people being honest and saying we don't want cheerleaders
I don't see why the girls are getting so much stick when it was actually Charlton who approached them with the idea and name, as their university now sponsors the team. From what I understand they were going to be wearing full kits not half dressed, getting kids involved and selling programmes. It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
The issue here is one of the Club totally mismanaging a message and allowing something to be presented in a way that totally misrepresents the idea and its implementation... yet AGAIN!
It represents a disconnect with supporters and a whole history of supporter culture. Someone should have raised their hand on this and asked things to be thought through a little better.
With the story provided from the team member above presents and entirely different proposition to the image we all conjured up and objected to: American style, Palace-like pageantry and Mexican Waves. All buzz words sure to have Charlton supporters seeing red! Had it been presented more carefully, in the way it is above, it may have even been lauded.
Any personal abuse directed at the student team has been rightly called out: it's not funny, it's not clever and a few need to hold their hands up.
Let's hope the next ten pages show a little more empathy for the position the Greenwich Uni team have been put in and go a little ways towards showing how "good" this community can actually be.
We have gone from this http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/63547/programme-sellers/p1 to where are now, strained relations with our sponsor and an indication that they won't be getting involved in 'promotion' work in future not to mention, I would think some fairly upset young ladies.
Now I can understand the desire not to copy anything that the Nigel's do and a number on here are very vociferous about this, classic examples being, the Igor chant, the 'We're the Red and White Army' chant and the brief existence of Red Division. It seems to me that the mention of cheerleading has as much to do with it being as Nigelesque and off putting as anything else.
There used to be a time at football when half time entertainment was most welcomed so I can't see the harm of these youngsters brightening up proceedings and doing their programme sales, entertaining the kids or whatever. We hadn't even had the full detail of what was being proposed, maybe that's the fault of the club for not communicating / consulting with fans before the 'No' lobby on here got going.
Sadly I have to agree with the UoG spokesperson, we haven't exactly covered ourselves in glory here.
I don't see why the girls are getting so much stick when it was actually Charlton who approached them with the idea and name, as their university now sponsors the team. From what I understand they were going to be wearing full kits not half dressed, getting kids involved and selling programmes. It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
The issue here is one of the Club totally mismanaging a message and allowing something to be presented in a way that totally misrepresents the idea and its implementation... yet AGAIN!
It represents a disconnect with supporters and a whole history of supporter culture. Someone should have raised their hand on this and asked things to be thought through a little better.
With the story provided from the team member above presents and entirely different proposition to the image we all conjured up and objected to: American style, Palace-like pageantry and Mexican Waves. All buzz words sure to have Charlton supporters seeing red! Had it been presented more carefully, in the way it is above, it may have even been lauded.
Any personal abuse directed at the student team has been rightly called out: it's not funny, it's not clever and a few need to hold their hands up.
Let's hope the next ten pages show a little more empathy for the position the Greenwich Uni team have been put in and go a little ways towards showing how "good" this community can actually be.
But the club havent said anything on it have they????
The only info we've seen on this is from that newspaper article. The 'Mexican Wave' was a quote from one of the girls themselves.
I'll apologise for the Chubbies remark, but it was only said in jest as it sounds a bit like Cherubs.
Personally, I don't care if they are the most beautiful girls in the world (or handsome boys for that matter). That changes nothing for me.
The point we are all making and have made successfully is that we don't want cheesy cheerleading in any way shape or form.
This is Charlton's fault for approaching them, not the girls fault. I feel sorry for the girls, being put in this position.
It's a bit like the Crossbars fiasco and The Open Day fiasco. The club need to find out what the fans want and what they do not want. The customer is always right.
If the girls want to sell programmes or assist in any other way, that's superb and much appreciated.
It's just the cheerleading we don't want. Apologies to the girls.
I don't see why the girls are getting so much stick when it was actually Charlton who approached them with the idea and name, as their university now sponsors the team. From what I understand they were going to be wearing full kits not half dressed, getting kids involved and selling programmes. It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
The issue here is one of the Club totally mismanaging a message and allowing something to be presented in a way that totally misrepresents the idea and its implementation... yet AGAIN!
It represents a disconnect with supporters and a whole history of supporter culture. Someone should have raised their hand on this and asked things to be thought through a little better.
With the story provided from the team member above presents and entirely different proposition to the image we all conjured up and objected to: American style, Palace-like pageantry and Mexican Waves. All buzz words sure to have Charlton supporters seeing red! Had it been presented more carefully, in the way it is above, it may have even been lauded.
Any personal abuse directed at the student team has been rightly called out: it's not funny, it's not clever and a few need to hold their hands up.
Let's hope the next ten pages show a little more empathy for the position the Greenwich Uni team have been put in and go a little ways towards showing how "good" this community can actually be.
So now the club have to confirm everything that isn't going to happen?
In that case I expect RD to release an imminent statement commenting on the fact that the circus will indeed not be coming to Charlton, there will be no half-time singers, no balloon modellers in the concourses. There will be nobody on stilts, nor will we be having anybody performing tricks on a motorcycle. Fire-breathers are out, as are magicians and any kind of clowns.
Lots of posts on here of people just saying "no" and I can not be bothered to go through them all to see if this has been posted:
From one of the cheerleaders Facebook pages, accompanied with images from this forum...
"So earlier this year the University of Greenwich decided to sponsor Charlton Athletic. Following this, Charlton contacted the chairlady of my squad, the University of Greenwich Mermaids, and asked if we could cheer at Charlton’s home games. After Melissa and I had a long discussion about this opportunity, weighing up the pro’s and con’s, we decided to go for a meeting and see what would be in store. Before the meeting began, I made it clear that I didn’t like the idea of my girls and boys, being out there in minimal clothing, that isn’t what we are about, so we agreed that we would be wearing Charlton Athletic Football kits, and would wear our cheerleading bows in our hair. We discussed that we would sell programme’s before, during and after games and we would stand during the matches and cheer along with the crowd at the game. It was suggested by Charlton that we should try and get the fans more involved in the games and that they want to expand their fan base. After being approached by a journalist from the Greenwich Visitor, Melissa and some of the girls went to meet him in Greenwich Park and talk about what cheerleading is, and what being a cheerleader entails. Mentioning about Charlton Athletic, the whole article then became about the new link we have with them. The day the article was released, we started to receive tweets from Charlton Supporters, and it started to trend on twitter. It was made very clear, that Charlton Supporters didn’t want us at their games. After being just a little annoyed at their reaction, we then discovered Charlton’s public forum, where their fans expressed their opinions on the cheerleaders being at their matches. Reading through I was absolutely disgusted at what some of these ‘adults’ had to say. No only were some of them showing their anger towards cheerleaders being present at the matches, but they were commenting on the look of some of my girls. There are 6 of the girls in the picture on the article and some of the comments became very personal. Changing the name ‘Charlton Cherubs’ (which was still to be discussed) to ‘Charlton Chubbies’, stating that we are not Miss England Material, and that we are not beauty pageant queens. But most them going onto say, they don’t want ‘palace cheerleaders’ at their matches. Who, in my opinion could be Miss England, as some of them are stunning! So what do they want? Some of the fans mention that they don’t want half time dances and goal music, well I would love somebody to tell me where they have found this information, because no where has this been stated. In fact, we agreed that we probably won’t be doing half time dances, just selling programmes and helping out where we can. People then went on to comment about cheerleading itself, stating how no squad in the UK, are any where near as good as those in the US. Funny that, because we have UK teams that compete against the US. But I mean, these fans must have done their research first. I actually sat and read all 10 pages of negativity from the Charlton fans, and after reading comments about being ‘BOOOOOD’ off, and the hate we are going to receive, I am happy to say that we will no longer be cheering at the Charlton matches. My squad is full of the most beautiful, natural looking, nice girls and boys you will meet. There is no way I am going to let them go out there, for free, I might like to add, and cheer on a team who have the most awful fans in the championship league. Fair enough express your opinion about not wanting cheerleaders, but when it becomes personal, Charlton Athletic fans, you should be ASHAMED!!"
Edit: Removed the link to her profile as I don't trust you lot.
After reading that I think its a bit harsh, majority of people just said no, there was a couple of comments about looks but it was mainly people being honest and saying we don't want cheerleaders
And tbf she does say some on here posted offensive things which is accurate. Still too many though.
I don't see why the girls are getting so much stick when it was actually Charlton who approached them with the idea and name, as their university now sponsors the team. From what I understand they were going to be wearing full kits not half dressed, getting kids involved and selling programmes. It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
The issue here is one of the Club totally mismanaging a message and allowing something to be presented in a way that totally misrepresents the idea and its implementation... yet AGAIN!
It represents a disconnect with supporters and a whole history of supporter culture. Someone should have raised their hand on this and asked things to be thought through a little better.
With the story provided from the team member above presents and entirely different proposition to the image we all conjured up and objected to: American style, Palace-like pageantry and Mexican Waves. All buzz words sure to have Charlton supporters seeing red! Had it been presented more carefully, in the way it is above, it may have even been lauded.
Any personal abuse directed at the student team has been rightly called out: it's not funny, it's not clever and a few need to hold their hands up.
Let's hope the next ten pages show a little more empathy for the position the Greenwich Uni team have been put in and go a little ways towards showing how "good" this community can actually be.
So now the club have to confirm everything that isn't going to happen?
In that case I expect RD to release an imminent statement commenting on the fact that the circus will indeed not be coming to Charlton, there will be no half-time singers, no balloon modellers in the concourses. There will be nobody on stilts, nor will we be having anybody performing tricks on a motorcycle. Fire-breathers are out, as are magicians and any kind of clowns.
That's not the same at all.
The Cherubs had misrepresented or the press had misrepresented what was going to happen.
The Club are aware of what was said and, just as they did with the transfer deadline day statement, could easily have said a couple of days ago "Actually there's been a misunderstanding here. We value our partnership with U of G but there won't be any cheerleaders at the Valley, etc etc"
They should have done that for the Cherub's sake if nothing else.
I don't see why the girls are getting so much stick when it was actually Charlton who approached them with the idea and name, as their university now sponsors the team. From what I understand they were going to be wearing full kits not half dressed, getting kids involved and selling programmes. It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
The issue here is one of the Club totally mismanaging a message and allowing something to be presented in a way that totally misrepresents the idea and its implementation... yet AGAIN!
It represents a disconnect with supporters and a whole history of supporter culture. Someone should have raised their hand on this and asked things to be thought through a little better.
With the story provided from the team member above presents and entirely different proposition to the image we all conjured up and objected to: American style, Palace-like pageantry and Mexican Waves. All buzz words sure to have Charlton supporters seeing red! Had it been presented more carefully, in the way it is above, it may have even been lauded.
Any personal abuse directed at the student team has been rightly called out: it's not funny, it's not clever and a few need to hold their hands up.
Let's hope the next ten pages show a little more empathy for the position the Greenwich Uni team have been put in and go a little ways towards showing how "good" this community can actually be.
So now the club have to confirm everything that isn't going to happen?
In that case I expect RD to release an imminent statement commenting on the fact that the circus will indeed not be coming to Charlton, there will be no half-time singers, no balloon modellers in the concourses. There will be nobody on stilts, nor will we be having anybody performing tricks on a motorcycle. Fire-breathers are out, as are magicians and any kind of clowns.
That's not the same at all.
The Cherubs had misrepresented or the press had misrepresented what was going to happen.
The Club are aware of what was said and, just as they did with the transfer deadline day statement, could easily have said a couple of days ago "Actually there's been a misunderstanding here. We value our partnership with U of G but there won't be any cheerleaders at the Valley, etc etc"
They should have done that for the Cherub's sake if nothing else.
Fair point, this more just became a task to see what forms of entertainment I could recall.
Don't want cheerleaders at the Valley and never have done. It's a pity there were offensive comments about their looks but I suppose that's inevitable given the views of a minority of fans.
The girls obviously know little about football if they think our fans are bad.
@ValleyGary That's why I used the phrase "allowing something to be presented"... It's not so much that the club need to confirm everything that isn't happening @JollyRobin, but they need to exercise some kind of control on how new ideas are being rolled out. If I were rolling out an ad campaign on behalf of a client and staff at the printers, radio stations etc. etc. were all discussing the promotion publicly before it was rolled out I'd have a big problem on my hands. These things have to be done with intention, or you get a fluster cluck. People are employed all over the world to ensure things like this don't happen!
Once the group were engaged, there should have been a discussion around keeping things under wraps (no Uni paper or whatever) until such time as the Club had organised the way it would be presented.
My issue, is that any herbert with half a brain and any vested interest in how supporters think (i.e. the person who's job it is to increase revenue at The Valley, or whose LinkedIn profile currently lists "Chief Commercial Officer at Charlton Athletic Football Club" as their job title) should have seen the potential consequences of connecting the words "Cheerleading", "Mexican Wave" and "Charlton supporters" together.
So now, we've had Crossbars, Open Day and Cherub-gate in quick succession. And it's @Airman_Brown that takes it in the neck for raising concerns about the amount of professional knowledge and experience that has been allowed to drain from the Club in recent years.
Two days ago none of us were any wiser to this until @sammy391 put the article from the local Greenwich paper on here. Maybe someone else would have found it eventually and put it on here but the reaction would have been exactly the same.
What if everyone turned up for the Watford game not knowing about any if this and then saw these young ladies performing. By 6pm next Saturday then once again this thread would be no different.
Whoever approached the cheerleaders should have consulted with the fans forum first of all. Maybe all this nonsense would have been resolved by now.
Two days ago none of us were any wiser to this until @sammy391 put the article from the local Greenwich paper on here. Maybe someone else would have found it eventually and put it on here but the reaction would have been exactly the same.
What if everyone turned up for the Watford game not knowing about any if this and then saw these young ladies performing. By 6pm next Saturday then once again this thread would be no different.
Whoever approached the cheerleaders should have consulted with the fans forum first of all. Maybe all this nonsense would have been resolved by now.
Actually there was an indication of what might happen from this post on the 'Programme Sellers' thread after the Derby game.
sam3110 Member August 20 Part of the link up with UoG, the Greenwich Mermaids (their cheerleading squad) have been asked to help out on matchdays and at events
Which prompted Henners to post
Henry Irving Member August 20 please don't do it, Charlton.
Please don't put them on the pitch as pre or half time "entertainment". Please.
It's a shame nobody at the club picked up on this at the time.
Comments
There's been very few personal comments on here (dont know about fb) for the most part people have said no cause it's tacky to have it at football. And not being funny but if you are expecting a football crowd to behave like a gentlemanly hive mind and not have even one or two 'laddish' comments then you must be delusional.
The mistake was nothing to do with what has been posted, it was to have even considered this a valid idea in the first place.
I will even enjoy a quick peek at HT to watch them all doing the Mexican Wave.
Added entertainment value to the package and everyone's happy :-)
Apologies for being facetious.
Nothing against you, but could have been the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders and reaction would have been the same.
From one of the cheerleaders Facebook pages, accompanied with images from this forum...
"So earlier this year the University of Greenwich decided to sponsor Charlton Athletic. Following this, Charlton contacted the chairlady of my squad, the University of Greenwich Mermaids, and asked if we could cheer at Charlton’s home games. After Melissa and I had a long discussion about this opportunity, weighing up the pro’s and con’s, we decided to go for a meeting and see what would be in store. Before the meeting began, I made it clear that I didn’t like the idea of my girls and boys, being out there in minimal clothing, that isn’t what we are about, so we agreed that we would be wearing Charlton Athletic Football kits, and would wear our cheerleading bows in our hair. We discussed that we would sell programme’s before, during and after games and we would stand during the matches and cheer along with the crowd at the game.
It was suggested by Charlton that we should try and get the fans more involved in the games and that they want to expand their fan base.
After being approached by a journalist from the Greenwich Visitor, Melissa and some of the girls went to meet him in Greenwich Park and talk about what cheerleading is, and what being a cheerleader entails. Mentioning about Charlton Athletic, the whole article then became about the new link we have with them.
The day the article was released, we started to receive tweets from Charlton Supporters, and it started to trend on twitter. It was made very clear, that Charlton Supporters didn’t want us at their games. After being just a little annoyed at their reaction, we then discovered Charlton’s public forum, where their fans expressed their opinions on the cheerleaders being at their matches.
Reading through I was absolutely disgusted at what some of these ‘adults’ had to say. No only were some of them showing their anger towards cheerleaders being present at the matches, but they were commenting on the look of some of my girls. There are 6 of the girls in the picture on the article and some of the comments became very personal. Changing the name ‘Charlton Cherubs’ (which was still to be discussed) to ‘Charlton Chubbies’, stating that we are not Miss England Material, and that we are not beauty pageant queens. But most them going onto say, they don’t want ‘palace cheerleaders’ at their matches. Who, in my opinion could be Miss England, as some of them are stunning! So what do they want? Some of the fans mention that they don’t want half time dances and goal music, well I would love somebody to tell me where they have found this information, because no where has this been stated. In fact, we agreed that we probably won’t be doing half time dances, just selling programmes and helping out where we can.
People then went on to comment about cheerleading itself, stating how no squad in the UK, are any where near as good as those in the US. Funny that, because we have UK teams that compete against the US. But I mean, these fans must have done their research first.
I actually sat and read all 10 pages of negativity from the Charlton fans, and after reading comments about being ‘BOOOOOD’ off, and the hate we are going to receive, I am happy to say that we will no longer be cheering at the Charlton matches.
My squad is full of the most beautiful, natural looking, nice girls and boys you will meet. There is no way I am going to let them go out there, for free, I might like to add, and cheer on a team who have the most awful fans in the championship league. Fair enough express your opinion about not wanting cheerleaders, but when it becomes personal, Charlton Athletic fans, you should be ASHAMED!!"
Edit: Removed the link to her profile as I don't trust you lot.
I dont think she's read the thread and peoples comments properly and i can forgive that as she was probably upset;
Who, in my opinion could be Miss England, as some of them are stunning! So what do they want?
I dont think we want anything other than a good atmosphere. The majority of comments have been about what we dont want...and thats cheerleaders.
Some of the fans mention that they don’t want half time dances and goal music, well I would love somebody to tell me where they have found this information, because no where has this been stated.
Nobody has claimed this has been stated. Its been mentioned as 'whatever next' type of situation.
People then went on to comment about cheerleading itself, stating how no squad in the UK, are any where near as good as those in the US. Funny that, because we have UK teams that compete against the US.
England compete against San Marino..doesnt mean they are as good though does it. (ok thats a little bit harsh)
actually sat and read all 10 pages of negativity from the Charlton fans,
I doubt theres even 10 comments of actually negativity. If people have been personal then its not on and i can understand her being upset. We just dont want cheerleaders!..if anything thats positive!
There is no way I am going to let them go out there, for free, I might like to add, and cheer on a team who have the most awful fans in the championship league.
Good luck down the Den!!!!
Oh ffs well done everyone.
It was probably supposed to be light-hearted and fun but the tirade of abuse they've received about their looks and weight from an unflattering picture, I'm not surprised they don't want to.
Please, if you're going to hit me, not the face.
We don't care what they look like....we just don't want cheerleaders at football.
It represents a disconnect with supporters and a whole history of supporter culture. Someone should have raised their hand on this and asked things to be thought through a little better.
With the story provided from the team member above presents and entirely different proposition to the image we all conjured up and objected to: American style, Palace-like pageantry and Mexican Waves. All buzz words sure to have Charlton supporters seeing red! Had it been presented more carefully, in the way it is above, it may have even been lauded.
Any personal abuse directed at the student team has been rightly called out: it's not funny, it's not clever and a few need to hold their hands up.
Let's hope the next ten pages show a little more empathy for the position the Greenwich Uni team have been put in and go a little ways towards showing how "good" this community can actually be.
to where are now, strained relations with our sponsor and an indication that they won't be getting involved in 'promotion' work in future not to mention, I would think some fairly upset young ladies.
Now I can understand the desire not to copy anything that the Nigel's do and a number on here are very vociferous about this, classic examples being, the Igor chant, the 'We're the Red and White Army' chant and the brief existence of Red Division. It seems to me that the mention of cheerleading has as much to do with it being as Nigelesque and off putting as anything else.
There used to be a time at football when half time entertainment was most welcomed so I can't see the harm of these youngsters brightening up proceedings and doing their programme sales, entertaining the kids or whatever. We hadn't even had the full detail of what was being proposed, maybe that's the fault of the club for not communicating / consulting with fans before the 'No' lobby on here got going.
Sadly I have to agree with the UoG spokesperson, we haven't exactly covered ourselves in glory here.
The only info we've seen on this is from that newspaper article. The 'Mexican Wave' was a quote from one of the girls themselves.
Personally, I don't care if they are the most beautiful girls in the world (or handsome boys for that matter). That changes nothing for me.
The point we are all making and have made successfully is that we don't want cheesy cheerleading in any way shape or form.
This is Charlton's fault for approaching them, not the girls fault. I feel sorry for the girls, being put in this position.
It's a bit like the Crossbars fiasco and The Open Day fiasco. The club need to find out what the fans want and what they do not want. The customer is always right.
If the girls want to sell programmes or assist in any other way, that's superb and much appreciated.
It's just the cheerleading we don't want. Apologies to the girls.
So now the club have to confirm everything that isn't going to happen?
In that case I expect RD to release an imminent statement commenting on the fact that the circus will indeed not be coming to Charlton, there will be no half-time singers, no balloon modellers in the concourses. There will be nobody on stilts, nor will we be having anybody performing tricks on a motorcycle. Fire-breathers are out, as are magicians and any kind of clowns.
That's not the same at all.
The Cherubs had misrepresented or the press had misrepresented what was going to happen.
The Club are aware of what was said and, just as they did with the transfer deadline day statement, could easily have said a couple of days ago "Actually there's been a misunderstanding here. We value our partnership with U of G but there won't be any cheerleaders at the Valley, etc etc"
They should have done that for the Cherub's sake if nothing else.
The girls obviously know little about football if they think our fans are bad.
Once the group were engaged, there should have been a discussion around keeping things under wraps (no Uni paper or whatever) until such time as the Club had organised the way it would be presented.
My issue, is that any herbert with half a brain and any vested interest in how supporters think (i.e. the person who's job it is to increase revenue at The Valley, or whose LinkedIn profile currently lists "Chief Commercial Officer at Charlton Athletic Football Club" as their job title) should have seen the potential consequences of connecting the words "Cheerleading", "Mexican Wave" and "Charlton supporters" together.
So now, we've had Crossbars, Open Day and Cherub-gate in quick succession. And it's @Airman_Brown that takes it in the neck for raising concerns about the amount of professional knowledge and experience that has been allowed to drain from the Club in recent years.
What if everyone turned up for the Watford game not knowing about any if this and then saw these young ladies performing. By 6pm next Saturday then once again this thread would be no different.
Whoever approached the cheerleaders should have consulted with the fans forum first of all. Maybe all this nonsense would have been resolved by now.
sam3110 Member
August 20
Part of the link up with UoG, the Greenwich Mermaids (their cheerleading squad) have been asked to help out on matchdays and at events
Which prompted Henners to post
Henry Irving Member
August 20
please don't do it, Charlton.
Please don't put them on the pitch as pre or half time "entertainment". Please.
It's a shame nobody at the club picked up on this at the time.