Actor Russell Crowe
© AFP/File Tiziana FabiSYDNEY (AFP) - Crowe, who co-owns the South Sydney Rabbitohs, has replaced the scantily-clad pom-pom wavers with a percussion band to encourage crowd chants.
"We feel they made a lot of people uncomfortable. We examined game day and wanted to contemporise and make the focus football," the Hollywood heart-throb told Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"We've talked to a lot of people and everyone sees it as being progressive."
The "Gladiator" star, who gained notoriety for a telephone-throwing tantrum in a New York hotel, said he wanted to encourage women to watch the testosterone-fuelled game.
"The positive response we've got particularly from women like my wife when they heard this was happening makes it a little easier for them to go to the game and simply enjoy the actual sport," he said.
©AFP