SYDNEY: Russell Crowe has banned cheerleaders from his rugby side’s ground because he says they make spectators uncomfortable. 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,” he told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. The Gladiator star said he wanted to encourage women to watch the testosterone-fuelled game.