Pitch invasion: Three cheers for cheerleading

It wasn't the slickest of debuts: on a crisp evening last December The Crystal Girls cheerleading squad marched on to the frozen turf at Crystal Palace FC's home, Selhurst Park, bronzed and polished in electric-blue Lycra and performed a goose-pimply, slightly out-of-sync three-minute dance routine to Studio B's 'I See Girls'. The reaction? Enthusiastic applause from the fans but an unprecedented backlash from local newspapers: 'Scantily clad cheerleaders blamed for Crystal Palace's poor form!' read one, while another accused them of being 'saucy' and 'distracting'. Palace, however, went on to win that game - and every subsequent home game to date.

The team's unprecedented success rate has meant the troupe has taken on a totem-like status. And as for that debut, the fan-filmed video has already had over 50,000 YouTube hits. 'That first dance wasn't the best example of their abilities,' admits Sharon Lacey, marketing manager for Crystal Palace football team, 'but they're much, much better now.' Recent clips reveal a perfectly timed, accomplished routine of kicks, flicks and vaguely suggestive thrusting. A performance much more worthy of the Cheerios, Glee's peerless troupe of athletic Amazons who are, in part, responsible for the UK's nascent boom in cheerleading.

Yes, thanks to the allure of pompoms and pop socks, cheerleading is the fastest-growing activity in the country, with 10,000 participants in the capital alone. Pineapple Dance Studios started its now oversubscribed adult classes three years ago, offering an intense hour of aerobic dance moves combined with kicks, jumps and stunts alongside the usual cheers, chants and pompom tossing. 'We get a real mix: students, lawyers, all sorts,' says Caleb Newman of Pineapple. 'Cheerleading has become part of mainstream popular culture.'

The varsity look has even spilled over on to the catwalk, hence the new trend for 'spashion' (sports fashion, geddit?). Alaïa and David Koma have both featured a take on the classic monochrome skater skirts in their collections, while Ivy League-style embossed letter jackets, available at BDG and True Religion, and knee-high socks from American Apparel have become a wardrobe staple for many.

Of course, the ultimate ambition for any amateur game-side cheerleader is to get out on to the pitch and flash some Lycra. But that isn't to say that participants are all intellectually challenged (eg, Glee's Brittany S Pierce). Team cheerleaders, such as The Crystal Girls, tend to be moonlighting professionals. One of the troupe, Laura Howes, 19, is training to be a barrister but fancied exercise 'with a purpose', while another, Amie Latter, 24, was a season-ticket holder who wanted to 'extend her support'. She currently works in investment management but chose cheerleading 'because of the fans... and it helps keep your body trim'. Beyond The Crystal Girls, international student Victoria Pauno is studying media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London, but recently joined the university's Goldsmiths Felions cheerleading troupe out of curiosity and because she wanted to get fit: 'Cheerleading is far more physically demanding than I imagined. My flexibility has increased tremendously and my arms are more toned.'

The Crystal Girls are one of the few team-owned cheerleading squads, but there are many troupes for hire. Britain's best squad, Ascension Eagles, performed at the closure of Arsenal's Highbury ground, as well as Twickenham for rugby internationals, every London Marathon in the past decade and last year's London Youth Games. The Felions have cheered at the London Marathon and the Super Bowl, while The London Rockets, performing since 2006, regularly support London Capital basketball team. The troupes feature girls aged anything from five to 21 and regularly perform a tidy but complex routine of pyramids and tumbles, with or without pompoms, depending on the mood. So far, so PG-rated, and a far cry from cheerleading across the pond.

US game-side cheerleading started out in a tame fashion around the turn of the century as a predominantly all-male practice. It wasn't until wartime drafting in the 1920s that women, in full skirts, began participating and it was also around this time that the acrobatics and tumbling elements were incorporated. By the 1960s, American cheerleaders had morphed into the tanned, busty, barely dressed beings that now dominate the big screen at the Super Bowl and every other sports event. Today almost two million Americans cheerlead and girls can gain scholarships and even academic 'credit' through cheerleading duties.

But don't scoff, says Pat Hawkins, president of the UK Cheer-leading Association (UKCA), cheerleaders are 'an important leadership force' in American high schools. And if they do really well, they can become professionals.

Almost every NFL team has its own squad of professional dancers. The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, America's biggest cheerleading squad (they even run their own magazine), is believed to be one of the team's most profitable commodities. Although they won't disclose their fees, according to one cheerleading website the average mid-level professional earns around $1,000 a season (although with commission on merchandise, plus paid private appearances, they can earn considerably more). And within the pro-cheerleading circuit, the girls have the equivalent status of a British WAG. Some (Teri Hatcher and Meryl Streep) even go on to have Hollywood success. Laura Vikmanis, 42, the oldest cheerleader in America's NFL, is having her epic pompom tale of divorce, single motherhood and joining a squad at 39 made into a film.

While Glee has been pivotal in promoting cheerleading worldwide, it follows a long line of films, including the Bring It On and High School Musical franchises. There are now nearly 100 countries affiliated to the delightfully named International Cheer Union and youth interest in the UK is second only to America. Hawkins describes it as an 'unprecedented explosion'. But while cheerleading is embedded in the US curriculum, it's only slowly making an impact in the UK, with over a third of British schools currently offering the activity as an extra- curricular part of the PE syllabus.