# Long haired football players - tackle by hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227 "2005-01-17T19:25:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![St.Urho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e7dd6/32.png) [@St.Urho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St.Urho)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2005, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/21 "2005-01-18T05:44:45Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > You can’t grab the head?? > > Since when? I believe he was talking about rugby, in which case it would be high tackle and a penalty. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/22 "2005-01-19T01:15:05Z")
Remember how much fun it was to _play_ football when you were a kid around 9 or 10? 😛 No uniforms or padding. _Lots_ of rules, many made up on the spot. We called it grab-ass. “Hey, you guys wanna go play some grab-ass inna park?” To our parents we called it “toss the ball around”. ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/23 "2005-01-19T01:27:50Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > I think they got him an extra-large helmet to accomodate the 'fro. They had probably already had to special-order for him because of his oversized head … I wonder if he got it from the same place that Jack got his son’s helmet. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/24 "2005-01-19T04:30:06Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > You can’t grab the head?? > > Since when? > > You can’t smack the head. > > You can’t grab the face mask. > > But if I wanted to grab your head and ride you down like a bull… > > nothing illegal about that. Really? You can grab the guy’s helmet? I can’t remember seeing any football player tackle an opponent by grabbing his helmet. Legal or not, that seems to be risking neck injuries on your opponent. (And yeah, I’m talking about American football, not rugby. Sorry.) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/25 "2005-01-19T05:08:56Z")
It’s pretty hard to tackle a player by the helmet WITHOUT grabbing the facemask, which is why you don’t see it too often. You could theoretically try tackling a guy by hitting him in the head with your forearm which would knock him over, but that would likely result in a personal foul. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/26 "2005-01-19T14:54:33Z")
If you get your hand behind a guy’s neck, it’s easier to grab the top of his shoulder pads than his helmet. You’ll get a better grip, and he’ll be less able to squirm out of it. That’s where long hair hangs out, though, and it may be even easier to grab _that_. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/27 "2005-01-24T19:26:40Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > In Rugby either Union or League you would be penalised for hair pulling probably after being smacked in the teeth by the owner of the hair you pulled. But in American football, the players wear a helmet that makes it impossible to pull hair, unless the player has chosen to grow long hear and let it hang outside the helmet. If he keeps it relatively short, or puts his long hair in a hairnet or a bandana or something so it stays inside the helmet, there’s no way the grab the hair. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/28 "2005-01-25T01:07:04Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > But in American football, the players wear a helmet that makes it impossible to pull hair, unless the player has chosen to grow long hear and let it hang outside the helmet. If he keeps it relatively short, or puts his long hair in a hairnet or a bandana or something so it stays inside the helmet, there’s no way the grab the hair. Something like that could also be said of rugby players. If they chose to be skinheads, or at least cut their hair in a “butch”, no one could pull their hair either. I’m really developing a dislike for professional sports. Not fair, I know, but… Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/29 "2005-01-25T01:33:14Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Remember how much fun it was to _play_ football when you were a kid around 9 or 10? …“Hey, you guys wanna go play some grab-ass inna park?” Actually we’d probably have steered well clear of any guy asking us this question. 🙂 We called it by its proper name, “bone-crunch”. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/30 "2005-01-25T01:56:31Z")
> [@hyjyljyj](#): > > Actually we’d probably have steered well clear of any guy asking us this question. 🙂 > > We called it by its proper name, “bone-crunch”. Grab-ass was actually a pretty popular term that covered almost any type of rough housing, like shoulder punching, wrestling, and pushing, etc. We hadn’t learned to be -phobic yet. Queer meant sissyfied, and had nothing to do with actual sex. We were 9 or 10. _Nothing_ had anything to do with actual sex, 'cept old lady thumb and her four daughters. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/31 "2005-01-25T02:00:05Z")
And _none_ of us had really long hair. :smack: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![hyjyljyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hyjyljyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyjyljyj)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227/32 "2005-01-25T13:17:30Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > Grab-ass was actually a pretty popular term that covered almost any type of rough housing, like shoulder punching, wrestling, and pushing, etc. We hadn’t learned to be -phobic yet. Queer meant sissyfied, and had nothing to do with actual sex. We were 9 or 10. Fair enough. I’m not “-phobic” now either; I don’t think too many people actually are. By and large homosexual folks are a pretty peaceful, non-threatening lot. It comes as no surprise and there is no denying that gay men are attracted to professions such as figure skating, interior design and decorating, hairdressing, dancing, art, music, etc. in higher proportions than straights. Nothing to be afraid of. If I have a strong distaste for mushrooms, for example, I’m not \*afraid \* of them. I’m not a _fungophobe_. Similarly, if I happen to have an aversion to what these folks DO as daily routine sex acts, it’s not an aversion to the people themselves. Some people can’t draw the distinction, and that’s unfortunate. Lots of heterosexuals to stuff I consider gross too, like S&M for example, but so what. It shouldn’t be against the law just because I don’t care for it, even though I’m not afraid of it. Being revolted by certain activity does not necessarily warrant a label of sexual repression, does it? I hope not. These folks are human beings just doing what comes naturally to them, after all. We don’t have to like it or else be labeled homophobic. We need a new suffix to denote aversion in the absence of fear. I wonder what percentage of NFL football players are gay. They do a lot of grab-ass out on that field. 🙂 As to the OP, I remember John Madden saying on an NFL broadcast once that tackling by the hair is legal. It’s not to be considered an extension of the head, since it can be cut and thus deprive tacklers of a convenient handle. Conversely, one cannot cut off one’s head and still play football (though you’d never know it by watching some of the Buccaneer games this season). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/long-haired-football-players-tackle-by-hair/285227.md?page=1)