As football fans, we pride ourselves on the fact that we know almost everything about the game. We know our favourite team’s history, records and feats.
But how much do we know about the rules and regulations governing the sport? Well, we will be looking at an aspect of that in this article. Here are some football clothing rules you probably didn’t know.
Players are allowed to use hats and face masks.
I guess we all can excuse the part of the hats, but the face masks seems a bit weird. However, there are no rules that go against the usage of either of the two. In that case, if a player decides to keep his head warm and believes a hat could do the job he’s free to put it on. Moreover, we have seen a good number of footballers in the past who put on hats while on the pitch, most especially goalkeepers to block sun rays from distorting their views.
A player is allowed to wear any basic equipment of his/her choice as long as it doesn’t pose any danger to him or the other players on the pitch. I believe face masks and hats have no threat whatsoever and offer more protection than harm. The primary reason we don’t see players putting on these accessories a lot is due to the limitations it poses them, hats could minimise the usage of the head while masks could reduce breathing prowess.
The colour of the kit between the two teams must not overlap.
This is a rule we fans should be thankful for. No one wants to experience pain to their eyes because they are watching a football game in which Real Madrid put on their all-white shirt against Sevilla who also puts on their all-white shirt. And as much as it seems that the various teams do not wear overlapping jerseys because it seems the right thing to do, there’s actually a rule that goes against it.
The rule basically states that players of opposing teams should put on kits of different colours to enable them, the match officials, spectators and TV viewers distinguish clearly between the two sides. That’s why most teams are rolling in third kits in case of any unforeseen circumstances.
Undressing will be punished even to show the message inside.
We’ve seen on a lot of occasions when a player is overjoyed of scoring that last-minute winner and takes off his shirt in celebration, showing his skin and abs, and then he proceeds to get a yellow card from the referee. Nowadays that rule has been made stricter as a player will be cautioned even if his reasons for taking the shirt off is to show a message or pay tribute to a person or event.
FIFA states that the act of taking the shirt off is “unsporting” and “unnecessary” and players should try as much as possible to avoid such excessive display of joy.
Do not wear jewellery.
Above we stated that wearing of equipment that is not harmful to the players is allowed in football. But the wearing of harmful accessories is prohibited, and that is why a player is not permitted to enter the field of play with jewellery.
It’s a precautionary measure as anything hard as such can pose a threat to the players. For instance, a player putting on a large earring can get hit by the ball, and his ear may bleed.
The goalkeeper must wear a jersey different from the home team and the referee.
This is what we see every time we turn on our TV’s to watch a football match. The goalkeeper is always having an entirely different jersey. That’s because it is a rule that they wear a jersey with colours different from that of the outfield players for the match officials, players and viewers to distinguish them clearly from outfield players.
This is the main reason why football clubs and national teams release a home kit and an away kit and a goalkeeper kit for both home and away games. If a goalkeeper is sent off and a team is forced to utilise an outfield player in goal, he is expected to put on the goalkeeper kit, and that automatically gives him the privilege to handle the ball in the 18-yard box.
Goalkeeper gloves must not give an advantage when catching the ball.
This is a very complicated rule because a goalkeeper wears a glove to have an advantage when handling the ball as it would be unfair to save a Cristiano Ronaldo 20-yard bullet with bare hands. However, there are specific rules that go against a goalkeeper wearing a glove that gives him an extra advantage, but they are very minimal. These involve prints on the gloves as well as colours that may reduce identification from opposing players.
General provisions on Logo and costume design of football competition
The football association body of any football competition provides a general logo and costume design to be used by teams participating in that competition, and this is for a variety of reasons including exposure and uniqueness. A team or player is not supposed to go against the range of allowed logos. If any other unofficial logo is to be included by a team such team must go through the necessary process with the governing body for thorough scrutiny as there are penalties for violation.
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