Formula 1’s decision to axe ring girls from its sport sparked a very strong reaction from Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda.

"How dumb can someone be?,” Lauda said.

"Women have emancipated themselves and do very well at it... so this is a decision against women.

It was a decision that followed the Professional Darts Association’s idea to end walk-on girls at its Darts World Championships.

And there are calls for boxing to follow suit.

Frank Warren has reacted

But Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren has issued a strong reaction to the controversy and insists he will continue to have ring girls at his events.

“Despite the fact that darts and Formula One have elected to play to the politically correct gallery, I, for one, certainly have no intention of handing the ring girls their cards,” Warren is quoted as saying by The Sun.

“The two sports ditching a dash of glamour has definitely played well with the PC brigade and, truth be told, the scantily clad girls did not have much of a role to play in either of these activities.”

Warren: 'It's discriminating against women'

Warren continued by claiming that banning ring girls would be discriminating against women.

“What is happening now is actually discriminating against women by attempting to eliminate a legitimate line of work. Why should that happen?,” he added.

“Take the darts, for example. I bet the people who complain about it don’t even watch it. It is not just Formula One either, if you look at the giving of any award, the Oscars for one, there is always a glamorous individual handing the prize to whoever is making the presentation.

“Look at how many presenters on Sky Sports News, for instance, are particularly attractive women? Does anyone complain about that?

“The bottom line is, it is ridiculous to try and take away a person’s living and I am not going to tell someone to give their job up for as long as they want to do it.”

Despite Warren’s comments, this isn’t going to go away. A stronger push towards equality will ensure calls to ban ring girls grow louder and louder.