new thread
Just saw this on AOL:
NFL Could Ban Hair Flowing Out of Helmets
Posted Mar 21st 2008 10:06AM by Michael David Smith
Filed under: Chiefs, Jaguars, Steelers, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Featured Stories, The Word
Steelers safety Troy Polamalu is known as much for the long hair that goes halfway down his back as for anything else. But Polamalu and other NFL players may soon be banned from exposing long hair on the field.
Adam Schefter reported on NFL Network that the NFL's competition committee is considering a rule that would bar a player from wearing his hair long enough on the field to obscure his name on the back of his jersey. Players like Polamalu and Jaguars cornerback Rashaen Mathis would either need to get a haircut or figure out a way to stuff all that hair in their helmets throughout a game.
According to Schefter, the Kansas City Chiefs proposed the rule change, perhaps motivated by the incident in October 2006, when Chiefs running back Larry Johnson pulled Polamalu's hair to drag him down from behind -- which is legal -- and then held onto the hair after both players hit the ground, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Schefter reports that the Chiefs have argued that the hair requirement should be enforced as a uniform violation, similar to the league's requirements that players wear their socks a certain way. But there's also some support for the rules change from league insiders who believe it's unsafe to have players running around with hair hanging out their helmet.
The 32 teams are expected to vote on the proposed rules change at the league meeting at the end of the month.
I hope they elect just to require the guys to keep it under their helmets and not force them to cut it.
We could organise a boycott. There again, it would be hard (or easy depending upon how you look at it) for me to participate in a boycott, as I never watch the game in the first place! I can tell you one thing, though, if they do ban long hair I won't start watching the game any time soon.
OTOH, it would seem reasonable to require long hair to be restrained, but it would be hard to cover it completely. There again, if the rules permit someone to be dragged to the ground by his hair, then there is a serious flaw in the rules, as there is no way anything like that ought to be legal in any sport.
Just suggest to the players that it go under the shirt. Why? Because part of tackling people is grabbing at them, and in the heat of the game, grabbing a loose mane is going to happen, be there a rule against it or not. Grabbing a player's mane may injure him and it may impact the team's score in the game.
When police officers are allowed to have long hair, they get it out of reach for similar reasons. You wouldn't let your mane fly near rotating machinery, so why would you want it to get caught in someone's hands?
Bill
This assertion fills both the bills of common sense and decent rule-making. Tucking one's mane into one's shirt makes really good sense when one might be "up against" someone who would haul on it (whether with willful intent or not) -- just as it does when working around high-speed machinery. 'Tis good advice all the way 'round.
Thanks, Bill.
Well remember this is the same league that considers the
hit on Darryl Stingly many years ago to be legal.
Seems like a game rule/safety hazard, so I don't see why they shouldn't have to.
Sports are different, especially football. Maybe they should just wear bald caps or something, just to hold the hair up.
I hate to say it, but it does sound reasonable, in this context, to require that a player's hair not fall outside the back of his jersey. Would it work to braid the hair and run it under the jersey and padding?
Since playing in the NFL is a choice, if a man refuses to comply with the rule, he has many other options for employment.
My first question when I read this is don't they have
the players name and number elsewhere? I believe the players
name and player number on their helmet.
Also I have to wonder if this could draw civil rights violations
charges? Considering that many of the black players have long
dreads could that be a slippery slope for the NFL?
This business about not covering up the name on the back of the jersey is a ruse, as anyone who can't tell which player is Troy Polamalu on the field is blind. The hair defines him a lot better than any visible name on the jersey ever could.