ISR – Cheerleader controversy simmers in Israel

TEL AVIV (Basketball Super League) - An exceptional dispute regarding some of the action on Israel’s basketball courts has been taking place of late.

On the debate is not about basketball players, but cheerleaders.

Disagreements have erupted over the principle of having cheerleaders in the Basketball Super League – the top league in the country.

A controversy arose with a new regulation that had actually been accepted by the league's board the previous summer that obliged each and every club among the 12 members of the league to have a respectful cheerleading team.

Until this season, though, very few clubs had a cheerleading group at their games.

Some used junior high, or even younger, dance class students to fill that spot. Most, however, had none.

The league aimed to put some sense and order into the regulation.

The BSL told each club to run dance classes for the dancers and to enforce an age limit of 16.

The league also hired a special tutor to guide the groups.

It didn’t take long for opposition to cheerleaders to emerge, and it happened in the capital city of Jerusalem.

Local club Hapoel objected to the concept of cheerleaders for several reasons.

Fans claimed their own cheers would be interrupted and identified cheerleaders with high-class sit-and-clap fans – a stark contrast to their own style.

The club claimed that among the fans is a big population of religious people who feel uncomfortable with scantily-clad dancers.

Eventually, however, Hapoel were forced to use its own dancing group and it seemed as if life would go on and the debate would die down.

Soon the story took a new turn.

A group of more than a dozen women’s rights activists and feminist organizations picked up the fight and in a joint appeal challenged the league.

"The cheerleading regulation that obliges the BSL clubs to host a performance of a cheerleading group deepens the sexist approach towards girls and women and could increase the level of sexual violence towards us and the social relation to girls and women as sexual objects," they claimed.

The league didn't accept this argument, and both sides traded barbs in the media.

Eventually, it seemed as if the battle was beginning to fade but the objectors last week rose again.

Mrs. Limor Livnat's arrival to the Ministry of Sports office in the new Israeli government triggered new protests.

No less than 19 organizations signed a letter that was delivered to the newly appointed minister on her first day in her new job, demanding that Mrs. Livnat do anything in her power to force the BSL to change their regulations regarding cheerleaders.

No answer has come from Mrs Livnat yet, but so far this unusual debate in Israel basketball has yet to die down.

Yarone Arbel, Tel Aviv
FIBA