Virtus Vicenza criticised for replacing ball boys with underage girls in shorts

After replacing their ball boys with girls dressed in very short jeans and tight tops, Italian Serie C club, Virtus Vicenza, have been heavily criticised.

The underage girls are all players of the U16 Anthea Volley Vicenza volleyball team and their clothes advertised Diesel - the clothing brand, owned by Renzo Rosso who also owns the football team.

"It was an initiative for the visibility of women's sport," the club announced.

"It was not meant to expose girls to undeserved criticism.

"Clothing worn by the girls is the one commonly used in adolescents' everyday life."

The volleyball team's statement also followed the same line.

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Per la prima partita di @lrvicenza le nostre ragazze Under 16 d'Eccellenza sono mooolto vicine alla squadra! 😉 Eccole a bordo campo nell' insolito e divertente ruolo di raccattapalle. #Outfit: @diesel 🏐⚽ #soccer #game #sport #gametime #goal #girls #playing #green #football #beautiful #fashion #sportwear #instagood #forzabiancorossi

A post shared by Anthea Volley Vicenza (@volleyvicenza) on Sep 16, 2018 at 10:14am PDT

"We are disappointed by the excessive media exposure and convinced by the goodness of the initiative, whose spirit is none other than to promote ties between two disciplines separated by their type of game," it read.

"In case of repeating the collaboration we will do it in a way that takes into account the sensitivities of every fan."

The controversial scenes took place at a team's home game on September 16 and the club assured that any similar future initiative would be aimed at the general good of the sport.