The coach of the Blue Lightning cheerleading squad has resigned after the discovery of provocative photos of Winnipeg cheerleaders online raised a flap earlier this week.
A Blue Bombers spokesman confirmed to the Free Press late Friday that Dena Clark had stepped down.
Clark joined the team in 1998 and took over as coach in 2003, according to a biography that previously appeared on the official Bombers website but was pulled after the photo controversy.
The Blue Lightning squad found itself in an unflattering light when revealing pictures of some former and current members turned up on the Internet.
A former member, who asked not to be named, talked to the Free Press about her experiences with the squad.
The scenes in the pictures, with some women adopting suggestive poses and others flashing the camera while wearing parts of their Blue Lightning uniforms, did not reflect her experience with the squad.
"Honestly, they don't want people doing what is seen in those photos. Everyone is warned about doing that kind of thing," said the woman who left the squad after the 2001 season.
"They really wanted it to be classy, not skankified."
She said the Blue Lightning aspires to portray an image similar to that of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders -- professionalism was stressed in the locker-room after every game and practice as well as before promotional events.
On average, the Blue Lightning squad devotes 2,000 hours a year to volunteer work in addition to the 12 to 16 hours the women put into practices and games every week. The women are not paid. The cheerleaders work with youngsters at cheer camps, lead group exercises at charity functions and act as hostesses at various formal functions.
The women are told to abide by the Blue Bombers' code of conduct at all times and follow a strict dress code divided into three classes: Business A calls for corporate business suits; Business B is casual but done up; and Formal is dressed to go to the prom.
"Especially when we went to Tijuana's (Tijuana Yacht Club) after the games, we were told to be conscious of what we were doing. We were always told, 'don't talk to the players,'" she said.
She said the team was especially conscious of the squad's image at the 2001 Grey Cup in Montreal.
"We were excited to be there and represent the team," she said. "We wanted to have a good reputation."
One of the pictures showed a member of the Blue Lightning in her uniform mooning the camera near Parliament Hill's Peace Tower at the 2004 Grey Cup in Ottawa.
The ex-cheerleader who spoke to the Free Press said the Blue Lightning coaches were with the squad around the clock during the Montreal trip.
She left the team before Dena Clark took the helm, but she doubted the squad's standards of professionalism had changed under Clark.
"Dena is really, really smart. She is not about bimbos at all... She would have never wanted this kind of image portrayed."
However, one of the pictures posted on the Internet shows Clark with a group of women snapping another woman's thong panties.
The ex-cheerleader said the Blue Lightning attracted an eclectic group of women, ranging from police officers to teachers to investment specialists.
"They really wanted to make sure we were articulate because we were going to big galas and events. They didn't want just some pretty faces out there," she said.
paul.gackle@freepress.mb.ca
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