what's with all this hair?

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's legal to tackle a player by grasping the back of his jersey. If you make grasping hair illegal, you will give a serious advantage to long-haired player as the back of the jersey will not be a legal area to tackle them, lest their hair be grasped.

You can't tell the difference between grabbing the jersey and grabbing hair? You don't think a player reaching for a jersey can avoid grabbing hair? A pony tail would practically have to be glued down to the cloth to be an obstacle to a player trying to grab cloth.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

You don't think a player reaching for a jersey can avoid grabbing hair?

No. Not if the hair is between him and the jersey.

It makes no sense at all, from any point of view, to allow a player to gain any advantage at all by growing his hair long.

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

You can't tell the difference between grabbing the jersey and grabbing hair? You don't think a player reaching for a jersey can avoid grabbing hair? A pony tail would practically have to be glued down to the cloth to be an obstacle to a player trying to grab cloth.

What pony tail? Under your rule, no player would do anything to secure their hair. It would be one solid sheet of hair across the back. You wouldn't be able to see, let alone grasp the jersey without hair interfering.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Eastshire

What pony tail? Under your rule, no player would do anything to secure their hair. It would be one solid sheet of hair across the back. You wouldn't be able to see, let alone grasp the jersey without hair interfering.

Hmm...wasn't thinking about that possibility. In that case the hair shouldn't be considered part of the head.

Say...what about playing a gorilla whose uniform is painted on its hair?

[PSU213]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

You can't tell the difference between grabbing the jersey and grabbing hair? You don't think a player reaching for a jersey can avoid grabbing hair? A pony tail would practically have to be glued down to the cloth to be an obstacle to a player trying to grab cloth.

Don't you think that players can tell the difference between grabbing a face mask and grabbing a jersey? Yet, diving players grab face masks all the time, despite the fact that face masks are much smaller than jerseys. I agree that it is a safety issue for players to be tackled by the hair....which is why the onus is on the player with long hair to "control" it (either cutting it or finding a way to secure it in their helmet).