When the University of Arizona and Arizona State play each other in any sport, you can expect tensions to be high as any inter-state rivalry would. Maybe even so high that some players get ejected. Or maybe even so high that even the … cheerleaders (?) get ejected.
During the second half of Thursday night’s game between the Wildcats and Sun Devils, play was momentarily halted while a game official ejected one of UA’s cheerleaders.
The referee of the Pac-12 rivalry matchup, Randy McCall, said he was required to eject the male cheerleader due to the fact that he did not listen to prior warnings to stop heckling the opposing team.
While the ref said that the cheerleader wasn’t using profanity, they are not permitted to yell into megaphones or to call out players’ names, so he had to go. You know what they say: refs don’t mess (Jesus, I’m sorry, it’s Friday).
via Arizona Republic:
According to Rule 10, Article 8 of the official referee handbook, cheerleaders are not allowed to yell into their megaphones during game play and are not allowed to call out names. The Wildcat cheerleader did both.
“He was yelling, using the (megaphone) to call out people by name, which is not acceptable. And he was asked to please stop, and he chose not to,” said Randy McCaul, the referee who ejected the cheerleader.
McCaul noted that the cheerleader was not using profanity.
Strangely enough, the Arizona cheerleading team declined to comment as if this is actually a big deal. A college kid got a little to excited about a game. It happens. On to the next one.
https://twitter.com/azcsports/status/964342718280318978
