This is great!
http://www.myhamilton.ca/NR/rdonlyres/AF61DD8B-4B37-4489-8235-EA168CD3D24B/10130/ticat.jpg
[i]"In honour of the Hamilton Tigercats Football team we present one of Hamilton's first cheerleaders. This watercolour image dates from about 1890 and was part of the Hendrie estate donated to Special Collections in 1975.
Last update August 2005
Hamilton Public Library
Hamilton Ontario Canada"[/i]
Source:click here
No Howard Stern jokes please! :twisted:
[Borat voice} Wa wa wee wa!. Iz nice. [/Borat voice]
She's probably looking down with pride knowing that the tradition still lives on....in here.
Some truth to that for sure…I’m hoping all our new recruits mext year actually study up on our history…and restore the pride!
Grey Cup appearance or not, I’ll settle for a little blood-letting on the turf…the other guy’s blood this time… :lol:
Seriously, I highly doubt this picture depicts a "cheerleader". I doubt the act or term even existed.
The idea of a woman doing anything like that in Victorian Canada is quite dubious.
The person who labelled it that either didnt know what else to call it or had no clue about sports or history.
I suspect it was used in an advert. of some kind.
Using attractive women to promote masculine activity is hardly new.
Could be......but then again, the original watercolour was done around 1890....hmmmmm, this is worth finding out...
Sidebar......check the size of the leather......Ken Peters will have a field day describing that football!
How does the year 1890 support the “cheerleader” premise?
and here we go again
maybe the legs? 
lol…
Saying "But then again" suggests 1890 is key.
I want to know why.
The legs are covered.
For the era this picture is quite provocative.Almost a pin-up.
The bare arms, and neck and a hint of clevage would raise many eyebrows and some hackles among the modest.
This picture was used deliberately to grab attention. For an ad no doubt,something for men especially, like tobbacco.
Her feet are so tiny, that I doubt she could jump around enough on them to do any kind of acrobatic cheer.
Ah … but could she at least do a basic cartwheel?
LMAO!
Well, if she couldn't, she really shouldn't be cheerleading. Perhaps she could find work as a model advertising tobacco products instead.
Wow! … are you getting a little excited Zontar?
(Seems like it … all except for that ‘Clevage’ word)
This mystery is starting to bug me.....Zontar actually made a good point about the possible cigarette angle....
Expanding on that, maybe this was an ad for the new spring line at Hudsons Bay called "The Ladies of Hammertown"..... :lol:
We really need to find someone who was alive at that time to shed some light if this was an actual depiction of a "cheerleader" or not.....
Is Mayor McCallion in meetings this afternoon?.... 
Just a simple girlie pin up with a rugby-football angle by some unknown,nameless commercial artist for an easy buck.
If it was 1890 and I was a Tigers fan? I’d be in love.
I find this very interesting. Did any of you read the CFL magazine last year that was focused on the cheerleaders of our league? It was nice but I think it would be really interesting for someone to do a book or something on the history of the cheerleaders…hmmm…sounds like an idea! Is their a union or association that is in charge of all the cheerleaders like the CFL Players Association that might have all of this information or a record of it?
Would you all find this an interesting read or would this only be interesting to a small group? Just wondering…
It wouldn't surprise me at all if that's a legitimate "cheerleader" from 1890.
Note this Globe article from 1899, that talks about Ticat fans taking the train to Toronto to watch the Cats play. Even then, the fans sported the team colours.
"Oom Paul does not possess a monopoly on the tail-twisting business by any means. At Rosedale on Saturday the Argonauts tied several reefs in the caudal appendages of Hamilton Tigers, and sent them back to their native jungle minus a few bunches of whiskers and a goodly store of conceit. It was a sore blow to the half hundred supporters of the Ambitious City team who came down expectant of victory, gaily decked out in yellow and black streamers and sporting dainty little flags inscribed with an enormous T."