During a visit to the optician this afternoon, I happened upon a magazine article concerning the Dutch footballer Joop van Daele.
The Feyenoord defender apparently wore glasses on the field of play. Apparently, during the second leg of the Intercontinental Cup in 1970, Oscar Malbernat of Estudiantes removed van Daele’s spectacles, threw them on the grass and trampled on them. Whether Joop had a spare pair available to him is not recorded, but the broken glasses are now exhibited in the club museum.
I have found evidence of other isolated examples of spectacle-wearing footballers, including goalkeeper J F Mitchell who wore them during his entire career, and who was capped for England in 1925.
If anyone is aware of any other participants in a contact sport who wore glasses, and who played the game at a high level, then please let me know. The later the example, the better.
Bob Griese, quarterback for the Miami Dolphins 1967-1980.
“1977 was a rebound year for both Griese and the Dolphins. Bob began to wear eyeglasses on the field, revealing for the first time that he had always been legally blind in his right eye. His passing statistics soared when he donned the spectacles.”
Simply because of his presence on significant teams while I was growing up and first getting into sports, I always think of Horace Grant when I think athletes with glasses.
Nowadays it’s either contacts or laser surgery almost exclusively.
Slightly surprised you’re not aware of Edgar Davids, though it’s slightly unclear as to whether he simply wears them for protection from further exacerbating his glaucoma, or needs them for good vision but cannot wear contacts due to his glaucoma.
The linked article also refers to Willam Gallas wearing glasses, but since it refers to him as a Chelsea striker (the “Chelsea” was accurate when written, “striker” less so) its veracity is somewhat questionable.
ETA: of course, neither of these examples are “glasses” in the traditional sense, being specially designed plastic goggles, so perhaps you excluded them for that reason.
However, not associating goggles with glasses is probably an error on my part. Eyewear technology has moved on since the days of Joop van Daele and if he was around now I dare say he’d be wearing goggles along with the others. For one thing they are less likely to come off, and for another they are not as potentially injurious to either the wearer or to other players.
Here is a photo of van Daele, complete with spectacles. Regrettably, I can’t find one of J F Mitchell.
According to Wikipedia, Al Arbour was the last NHL player to wear eyeglasses on the ice. Here’s a picture of him playing without a helmet but with the specs.
Another bespectacled baseball player was Darrell Porter.
Thought so. I believe that when I first started playing football (soccer) around 1993 or so, it was permitted for players to wear glasses if they secured them with a strap round the back of the head. But I’m almost certain that wearing them now would not be allowed - given that the current rules of our league do not even allow a wedding ring with protective tape around it, I can’t see traditional glasses going down well. There’s just way too much risk of injury for the wearer and other players.
I can’t imagine any rugby player has ever worn ordinary glasses, and I’m amazed American Footballers have - even as a quarterback, you’d have to have a really good defence to avoid problems.
I’m not sure that baseball is a contact sport, contact between the players is certainly not an integral part of the game as it is with football, say. I was always taught that basketball is a non-contact sport, for the same reason. But heavy contact between players can certainly occur in these sports.
Soccer is certainly a contact sport - “sholuder-charging”, for example, is specifically allowed in the laws. Also, even a clean tackle normally involves indirect contact between players (with the ball in between). Competing for a header is another example.
I’d say that basketball is a contact sport. There’s the “banging” in the post, hand checks, blocks, charges, and screens. It isn’t as physical as soccer, which is a contact sport, but I’d say it counts.
Baseball is on the line, but in my opinion, the non contact side.
Hockey, rugby, and football - those are collision sports!
Having played both, I think basketball is more of a contact sport than soccer.
Given the OP, perhaps the best way to put it is that I can’t recall seeing any professional soccer players wearing mouthguards in team colors.
