what's with all this hair?
 

Hey, all this hair is getting out of hand. how long does a ball carrier's hair have to be before a defender can use it to tackle him? Seems its going to take someone's scalp getting pulled off before this is addressed. Thanks.

The hair might be getting out of hand, but it is not illegal to pull it if that is the ball carrier is the one's hair being pulled.

Peace

Thanks. So, regardless of the length, a defender can tackle the ball carrier by the hair? Thanks, Rick

I'm guessing it might be frowned upon however to reach up under the helmet opening to grasp someone's short hair. :D

haha. I just feel that someone's scalp is going to get ripped off, but I suppose there is no rule change that could ever be enacted here. Thanks.

There is no length requirement. And if there was who is going to measure this?

At least the players know they are doing this totally at their own risk.

BTW, I rarely ever see this as an issue. I have seen it one time in the pros and maybe once in college. And these are in places where every other player has really long hair coming out of their helmet.

Peace

Marion Barber got tackled by the hair while with the Cowboys, preventing a touchdown near the end of the game.

great point, if the ball carrier doesn't want the risk, then get a hair cut. duh.

I said what I had seen. I am sure it happened more than what I had seen. And that was some time ago if you are talking about what Barber did with the Cowboys.

Maybe if it was common then it would be an issue, but it is so rare and no one gets hurt, why create a rule for a fixable situation? And I realize you are probably not asking that question as the OPer was.

Peace

Head hair and beards are parts of the head, right? So tackling by pulling the hair should be legal only to the extent tackling by the head is legal. Seriously, what is the difference what purchase someone has if it results in the same bending of the neck?

Please don't give the rules makes another option to wussify the game.

Wouldn't hair pulling be practically paridigmatic of wussy?

Make the rule change be that no hair can stick out of the helmet. Don't punish the tackler, make the kid cut his hair.

I don't remember what game it was but the there was a roll of hair pulled from ones head and left on the turf. I'm sure you can google it and find the video.

Rutgers

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P4SCyxAywms" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Why? It's very easy for a tackler to avoid pulling someone's hair or beard -- at least as easy as avoiding pulling the face mask. Meanwhile, consider that the player is on the football field only a tiny percentage of his time; so he's supposed to change the way he looks during the entire football season just to conform with your idea of how he should look on the field? Besides, what difference does it make to the game how the players look? They have uniforms to tell the teams apart, that's all you need.

So would it not then benefit players (particularly RBs) to grow their hair down to their...umm...butts? By your logic, the defenders could not go for the back at all since they run the risk of pulling the extremely long hair and, by extension (no pun intended), bending the neck.

A facemask is required by rule... long hair and/or beards are not.

Don't see any issue with the rule as is. If a player doesn't want his hair pulled, then wear in a fashion that doesn't allow it to be pulled as easily or cut it short. I also don't see the issue w/allowing defenders to pull the hair...nothing says a player has to wear their hair long....unlike a facemask which is required (as jtheump said).

No, there's no problem with that, any more than by putting a hand on an opponent's frame one commits a holding foul. There's a big difference between having one's hand or arm touch someone's dangling hair on the one hand and pulling a pony tail on the other. If you can tell the difference between pulling someone's shirt and using an open-palm technique to block, it shouldn't be hard to distinguish hair pulling from legal contact with hair.

If this is thought still to be too dangerous for the player's neck, hair could be required to be tucked into a shirt the same way a medical alert pendant can be secured.

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.

Tucking the hair into the jersey isn't practical as it won't stay there if not secured and if secured sufficiently, the player wouldn't be able to turn his head freely.

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.

Given that there is no actual book definition to define what a HEAD is (please tell me we don't need one ... egads), I see no justification for expanding the rules regarding the head to include hair. You would not penalize a hair-slap. You would not penalize a player that tried to tackle a runner and only contacted hair.

Hair is connected to your head ... but so is (eventually) the rest of your body.

I think I'd consider the "head" to be the part of the body covered by a helmet (in fact, some of the rules state helmet, not head, and the terms are interchangeable).

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.

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.

haircollar tackle!!!

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?

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).

People change the way that they look in order to do their job all the time. The military is the most obvious example but many civilian jobs require strict grooming and appearance standards, and most professional environments will at best look down on persons displaying poor grooming and hygeine habits. As an official I am expected to shave and maintain a conservative haircut, exercise and maintain a clean uniform, as well as a professional appearance when in uniform. I even work with officials who wear skin-colored armbands to conceal tattoos on their arms during games. We're all beholden to certain requirements for various reasons.

Entertainment professionals maintain strict diets, exercise, and alter their grooming or make other adjustments to their bodies because directors or some other person in authority demands it. Football players are just another breed of entertainment professional. As it is, they already spend a vast majority of their time training and conditioning their bodies and minds for their sport, to maximize performance and minimize personal risk. By having and maintaining long, flowing locks of hair, they slow their running--thus hampering their performance--and put themselves at risk.

I'm not saying it should be illegal. I'm just saying it's stupid.

what is we had a ZZ Top type beard? Can I tackle him by the beard and what if is mouthguard comes out because his beard was wrapped in it. Do we have facemasking? Wow, think of the rules we could come up with if we just thought more like the IRS! :)

Yes but they'll call you a Rough Boy.

Exactly. Nothing says the kid has to cut his hair, but it's pretty stupid to play with long hair.

Regulating the tackles based on hair would only encourage more players to grow their hair long, which would be a bigger safety risk, even with a rule in place.

I somehow don't think having long hair is slowing anyone in a football game at all. The only thing, performance wise, one could argue is being slightly easier to tackle from behind.

added a little something......

I think there's an actual example here at 3:24 -- Girl football player is fast and fun to watch! - YouTube -- but hard to tell because it's overcranked. It does look, however, like her head was pulled around. I don't see a flag coming out.

The way I see it, football is a violent sport. Period. Anyone that plays it at any level assumes all risk going into the deal. Bad stuff happens all the time - intentionally and unintentionally. Growing excessively long hair that sticks out of the helmet and flops around, even covering the number on the jersey in many cases, is going to be fair game for any would be tacklers that are desperate to make a play.

It is what it is. Don't like it, don't grow it.

I saw Larry Johnson of the Chiefs tackle Troy Polumalu by the hair on an interception return, and he was flagged for it, but on the other hand it saved a touchdown. Also saw Marion Barber grabbed by hair, and no call. Barber did shorten the locks by several inches before the next game.

Is there a certain rule regarding weaves as to real hair.................:D

I have seen twice Polumalu grabbed by the hair in a tackle and I did not see anyone flagged for it. It is not illegal in the NFL and it is not illegal anywhere else in the other levels. I even remember how it was talked about by the media to not be illegal when Polumalu was pulled by the hair.

Peace

If you are referring to this play, Johnson was flagged because after the tackle was complete, he didn't let go and yanked Polamalu back up by his hair.

Polamalu was rolling onto his feet, and then Johnson had a inadvertent yank on his hair.

Whether Johnson meant to do it or not is immaterial. The flag was not for the tackle, but for what happened post-play.

It's football. It's violent. It's all about finding and exploiting every single weakness. If ya' don't want it grabbed, don't wear it. The only exception - your facemask.

You're discounting both the sheer weight of the hair and the increased drag coefficient.

:)