Podium Girls

blackbike
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by blackbike »

I do wish podium girls would give us a twirl.
old_windbag
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by old_windbag »

blackbike wrote:I do wish podium girls would give us a twirl.


Well only until the dolly dealers come along. :)
landsurfer
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Vacuous Podium Girls

Post by landsurfer »

From this weeks Cycling Weekly "The Big Question".

"Get rid of the Vacuous Podium Girls; Sarah Bentley".

I don't get the Podium girls thing.... It's like hunting Whales and Page 3 .....

We've moved on haven't we ?
I have to declare my position on this ... I'm a "Happy to be hetro" male of a certain age.
Don't want my daughters, grand daughters, parading around as eye candy.
I want them to be engineers and fighter pilots ... or just happy ....

But a recent conversation in the pub with a group of my sons friends went off piste when one female made the point ... " Why do you think it's only men that like the podium girls ??? " .... aaaah ! .....

Back in the 80's at the Spanish Moto GP the umbrella holders on the grid where the local schools 6th form equivalent ... male and female.

Bit of a ramble but ...... time for the Podium Girls to check out ???????????
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old_windbag
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by old_windbag »

landsurfer wrote:and fighter pilots


A strange situation. The podium girl jobs are through choice, and they do get applicants of their own free choice. But you would rather out of free choice have your daughters, grandaughters kill people at a remote distance where they can't see first hand the injuries inflicted indiscrimanantly. You may not like the role of a podium girl but I don't think any of them have ever left people limbless or burned by napalm( as in vietnam etc ).... or dead. At some point we do end off using our planes in conflict, the last 20yrs have seen that and still ongoing. Something must be kicking off at the moment as exercises have increased over last few weeks.
landsurfer
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by landsurfer »

Huzzah .... you have found something to take offence at ....
I hope you have made your daily quota of offence, outrage and victimhood with my assistance .....

What would you suggest my granddaughters become, Teachers, Secretaries, Nurses ?
All solid respectful professions.
Anti war campaigners ?

Or be the people that keep you safe ..
Fighter pilots, Soldiers, Sailors .... why should they not ?
They will fight for your right to complain about them.
Your right to whinge and whine will be supported by their efforts ....
Personally I would like them to become Police Officers ...
But Molly wants to be a Pro Cyclist and Ella wants to be a Unicorn Mermaid, on Healy's ...


:lol:
Last edited by landsurfer on 27 Jul 2017, 5:36pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Spinners
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Spinners »

With the TdF in mind, I'm still in favour. It's the glamour and tradition I guess and they do look so smartly turned out in the various jersey sponsor's colours.
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old_windbag
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by old_windbag »

landsurfer wrote:Huzzah


Crikey thought the reply was from Landsurfer of Yorkshire not Lord Cardigan of Crimea

landsurfer wrote:I hope you have made your daily quota of offence, outrage and victimhood with my assistance .....


Well no quota's involved nor any of the words you apply either so you could assist some others reach any quota's they may have. If you don't share the same views as people theres no reason to think they are offensive, outrageous or victimising.

landsurfer wrote:What would you suggest my granddaughters become, Teachers, Secretaries, Nurses ?
All solid respectful professions.
Anti war campaigners ?


Not sure why you wouldn't think any of those jobs would be constructive useful roles to study for, the anti-war campaigner isn't a profession it's a part time duty that any of the people in the jobs you describe could be doing. Even a member of the police force could be on anti-war protests when off duty( or is that banned as part of the job, might be ).

landsurfer wrote:Or be the people that keep you safe ..
Fighter pilots, Soldiers, Sailors .... why should they not ?
They will fight for your right to complain about them.
Your right to whinge and whine will be supported by their efforts ....


Safe is a little out of place during my lifetime. All of the conflicts the uk has been involved with have had no clear impact on my life as a UK citizen other than perhaps increasing terrorist attacks. The conflicts we have had have been in complete contrast to those of WW1 and WW2..... particularly the latter whereby we had a high threat of invasion from a western nation. Since that conflict we've had cold war stand-offs and localised conflicts. Often these have been in areas that would not lead us into a world war. One day we may push the bounds too far but hopefully the lessons learned by the losses of ww1 + ww2 will stay in the memory of those who were involved and we avoid reaching that state again.

Am I anti-war? Well like every rational person yes as we should not have to get to that point. Am I against killing people, not when it is to remove individuals who would cause us to reach a point of major conflict. We have great intelligence systems to use in our fight to remove people in the UK and outside. The threat to my safety and everyone elses lies within our own country and the thoughts and beliefs of a small few. These aren't the civilians of far off countries, and protecting our borders to myself means policing and ittelligence to track, aprehend and remove those who are threats. It's also not a good thing to see just how all of these organisations we fight in far off countries acquire their armaments, most don't manufacture their weapons. That trade ( and the UK plays its part ) has been no help in keeping world peace.

When you say these people in the forces allow me to whinge and whine( thats how we describe someone complaining about an injustice or wrong doing ) it isn't strictly true. They choose the armed forces for their own reasons, some good, some bad. We the public pay their salaries but we don't get a say on how, when and why they are to be used. Our government decides that and it may not always be what the public would decide even if they voted for them. But on the whole the armed forces have a contract or duty to those paying them, as any salaried job. You would have chosen to join the forces based on things that interested you, or relatives who encouraged it or many other reasons. It's not a solely altruistic choice, many people I was at school with entered because shipyards were closing and they thought it would be an easy way to get an apprenticeship/trade..... their options outside of that were limited. They weren't choosing for any other reason, except for one who had a fixation with "the para's", which he joined and then went SAS then police force( hmmm ). But the army certainly did a good sell every year by bringing an abbot self propelled gun to the school yard and having some very jingoist take the kings shilling advertising. They certainly didn't show anyone with half their head missing as a perk of the job.

My family background has a lot of military in it( what preposterous ). Three generations back my great grandfather served in the army across the empire in victorian times, of his own choice. Then in WW1 his son enlisted voluntarily at the start of the conflict. Immediately shipped to gallipoli to be embroiled in churchills carry on with the turks. Leaving there with a MM for bravery in the field he was posted to the somme. Then gassed+blinded, after that setback he continued in the trenches and finished alive and with another MM for bravery in the field. He put himself out as with all those who went as "voluntary" to risk life and he luckily returned in one peice( damaged lungs and psychologically but alchohol helped :wink: ), some pieces or not at all. The experience created hatred in him for the people who had caused this( another person who had similar experiences from the other side had his hatred fuelled too... ). Cue WW2 and enlists as RAF on AA duties in kent. Yes he was paid but like so many he went to help us in a crucial time not through career choice. In these circumstances many of us may choose to fight a potential invasion, we'll not know now as we have avoided world wars for 70yrs by treading more carefully and creating organisations to try to keep the peace. An uncle was RAF from 16 until his death( natural ), then my father was as many dragged into national service. Not very nice to be given no choice and also for those involved they weren't kept away from the risk of death, they were put into conflict situations. Glad we are away from that idea. I view enlisting voluntarily as opposed to career choice differently, especially when you know we are at war when enlisting. Also have respect for concientious objectors who did actually play their part and not negatively. Even I had great intentions of entering the RAF but my outlook changed at adolescence and I knew science and engineering was my preference, as well as longer hair and casual clothes.

Another sad aspect of WW2 was the loss of german aircrew locally who are buried locally. They never returned back to their mam and dad and they were only 20'ish. They were shot down for good reason but only that they had been sent as our boys were on a whim of politicians and megalomaniacs. If those young flyers were to sit at a pub table with their british counterparts I'm sure they have a few differences but not to the extent they would wish to kill each other. They flew here because they were young and influential to the message sold to them, they never returned to any christmases nor cycle rides. So I'd rather see the young of today go into peaceful professions where the end product is a tangible benefit to the world in general, not to end in situations where people are left dead or disabled. Sadly for all those who want a world of peace there are those who like uniforms and invading other countries or subjugating people..... humans are flawed.
landsurfer
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by landsurfer »

Old_windbag .... Get out more :D
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old_windbag
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by old_windbag »

Think you'd be better saying that to our politicians :wink:
landsurfer
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by landsurfer »

old_windbag wrote:Think you'd be better saying that to our politicians :wink:


:lol: Good point, well made..
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Cyril Haearn »

roeboy wrote:The girls are a ridiculous throw back to the dark ages in a sport that could do with having a revamp and needs to get more women interested in cycling. Having two girls posing at the end of a stage for no valid reason is a turn off for most women I'd imagine and makes a mockery of the effort the riders put in as well.

Can we campaign to rid our sport of sexism, starting with this anachronism?

..
..

I just heard that the walk-on girls who accompany male darts players are to loose their jobs, - €€€ :(
Apparently the ladies at Wimbledon get the same prize money as the laddies, +1!
But probably the laddies get more from endorsements and sponsorship
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rmurphy195
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by rmurphy195 »

Cyril Haearn wrote:I just heard that the walk-on girls who accompany male darts players are to loose their jobs, - €€€ :(
Apparently the ladies at Wimbledon get the same prize money as the laddies, +1!
But probably the laddies get more from endorsements and sponsorship


I've just heard the same about F1. I expect they will be well pleased at the loss of income.
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Psamathe
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Psamathe »

Cyril Haearn wrote:....
Apparently the ladies at Wimbledon get the same prize money as the laddies, +1!
.....

So I assume they will now also do the same amount of work for the same pay? (e.g. same number of sets).

Ian
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Vorpal »

rmurphy195 wrote:
Cyril Haearn wrote:I just heard that the walk-on girls who accompany male darts players are to loose their jobs, - €€€ :(
Apparently the ladies at Wimbledon get the same prize money as the laddies, +1!
But probably the laddies get more from endorsements and sponsorship


I've just heard the same about F1. I expect they will be well pleased at the loss of income.

I expect that no one asked them. There is as much sexism in their firing as there was in their hiring.

That said, they were, more than anything else, brand ambassadors. And the brand managers have decided that grid girls and podium girls are no longer representative of the brand.

That may be because of public opinion, it may be because they want to attract more women to their audience, or it may be a simple cost saving, touted as a strategy. In any case, the women who do that work mainly have full time jobs doing other things (some are students). Some have done it mostly because they were fans, and will be at the race track, anyway.

Maybe they can do like other sports have done, and exchange the women in sexy, glamourous clothes for younger fans who want the chance to be close to their idols. I guess they'd have to limit the age of the ones on the grid (grid kids?) to 12 and older, or something like that?
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Podium Girls

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Maybe the free publicity is relevant :wink:
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