The Los Angeles Rams have named two men to their official cheerleading squad, which the team claims is a first in NFL history.

Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies were named to the 40-person squad from a field of 76 finalists. Both the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts have male stuntmen, but Peron and Jinnies, both classically trained dancers, are said to be the first two men who will perform the same routines as their female team-mates.

Congratulations to our 2018 Los Angeles Rams Cheerleaders! pic.twitter.com/gYlXtC0BOd — Rams Cheerleaders (@LARamsCheer) March 26, 2018

Peron said he was inspired to try out for the squad while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game last month and watching the Laker Girls perform during a break in play.

“I thought, ‘Why not me? Why can’t I do this?’ So I called my friend and I asked her when auditions were for the Rams and she told me Sunday and I showed up,” Peron said in an interview Wednesday on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America.

Quinton Peron and Napoleon Jinnies appeared on ABC-TV’s Good Morning America on Wednesday.

Jinnies described the audition as lengthy and rigorous: “This one was about three weeks long and we had a bunch of rehearsals in between and an extensive interview process, but it was really humbling and amazing to be invited every time you came back. High emotions, but it was worth it.”

Squad captain Emily Leibert said the California natives “really just fit the bill to be a Los Angeles Rams cheerleader”.

“They are intelligent, they are eloquent, they are more than qualified to be ambassadors out in the community,” Leibert said. “They bring so much energy and there’s something so magnetic about their performance, you really can’t take your eyes off them.”

But their claim to history has not gone undisputed.

Billy Quercia told TMZ Sports on Thursday that he was a member of the Atlanta Falcons cheer squad during the 1987 and 1988 seasons, which archival team photos confirm was comprised of 12 women and 12 men.

“(Female) cheerleaders have been there all along,” he said. “Everyone knows the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. If the males want to do that and can do that, I know they can do it better than the girls most of the time from what I’ve been seeing. I think it’s fabulous that that’s happening because we’re all one people and I think that’s awesome.

“I don’t think they need any support at all. They have it going on. They know what they’re doing. I’ve seen them: they’re very, very good and very professional. And they deserve to be where they’re at. I don’t think they’re going to have any [backlash] at all. Society has changed, and everyone else needs to tune in that hasn’t changed.”

The announcement comes at a time when the institution of cheerleading is under scrutiny amid a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by former Saints cheerleader Bailey Davis, who alleges the New Orleans club has different sets of rules for its male and female employees.