A ring card girl holds up a ring card at the boxing ring at the Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Germany.

A ring card girl holds up a ring card at the boxing ring at the Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Germany.

A POLL HAS indicated that the majority of people in Ireland wouldn’t support a ban on ringside girls from boxing matches.

Today, Formula One announced that it would cease using “grid girls” at its races, following a similar ban on walk-on girls last week from the Professional Darts Corporation.

Formula One said that it would introduce an initiative to involve children in the industry called “Grid Kids”.

Following on from this announcement, a panel of 1,000 adults were asked by Amárach Research on behalf of the Claire Byrne Show would they support a similar ban on “glamorous ring-girls” from boxing matches in Ireland.

The results are:

Yes, 36%

No, 48%

I don’t know, 16%

The Women’s Sport Trust has called on other sports to follow darts’ lead by ceasing to use walk-on girls.