The reasons given to Barth are also surprising. The coaches and managers would not like referees with beards. And with facial hair, he would be too much of a focus. You have to know that Barth’s face looks neither shaggy nor extravagant. Instead, his carefully trimmed beard looks like it belongs right where it is and nowhere else. All the more curious was the shave order by Stokes.
Lutz Wagner: “This is an intervention in the personality”
Barth ultimately defended himself legally and at least obtained an apology from Stokes and the Euroleague, including a promise that he would no longer want to set unfair standards in the future. In basketball, the topic is at least on the table. But how about football? Are there possibly similar announcements there?
A call to Lutz Wagner, coordinator of the DFB referee training. He insists that German refereeing is judged on performance, not appearance. He criticizes the fall from basketball as “Intrusion into Personality”. He himself wore a mustache when he was a very young referee.
The unwritten law
So no official beard ban in the DFB. But why then all the clean-shaven skin around the whistles? In the scene one can certainly speak of an unwritten law that top referees should be beardless, please, says Alex Feuerherdt of the sports show.
The publicist, podcaster (“Collinas Erben”) and referee instructor in Cologne refers to the expectation that the referees are inconspicuous and should convince with their performance. “Many a number of referees, who are generally more conservative, see brightly colored shoes, long hair or eye-catching tattoos as unnecessary targets.”
Hairstyle experiments only after the career
Feuerherdt also refers to ex-referees like Urs Meier or Jochen Drees, who only let their previously short hair run free after their careers. Even Peter Gagelmann, who used to be a trademark of a strict brushed haircut, was carried away by casually combing his hair back when he was a referee.
But Feuerherdt is also surprised at the rarity of beards, since nowadays they are not really noticeable. And after all: If you think long enough, you can also come up with a Bundesliga referee with a full beard – on the one hand with Markus Schmidt.
Markus Schmidt: “But you don’t want to whistle with that now?”
The 48-year-old recently exceeded the Bundesliga age limit (47), but is still working as a video assistant. In the last four or five years of his long career (197 Bundesliga appearances) he walked the lawn with a three-day to two-week beard. And in an interview with the sports show, he says that initially some people reacted quite irritated. As a senior referee official said at the time: “But you don’t want to whistle with that now?”
Yes, did he want – “and after two matchdays it was normal”, says Schmidt. He also never quite found out where the reservations about beards came from. He tells of colleagues who sometimes wore full beards in private (quite to their advantage), but then went clean-shaven again on match days.
Official ban in minor league baseball
In other countries and sports, too, referees tend to go clean shaving. The minor pro baseball leagues in North America (Minor League Baseball) even officially forbid their referees in the rule book “mustaches, goatees or other facial hair”.
Discrimination Debate in England
In English football, the issue is explosive because of the powerful official David Elleray. The longtime referee chief of the Football Association (FA) will step down after the season. He was also investigated for racism allegations.
He is considered a beard opponent and is said to have given the referees appropriate advice. The daily newspaper “i” also sees this as potential discrimination against referees for whom their beard is important due to their religious affiliation. All 40 UK professional referees in the top divisions are white.
Daniel Schlager: FIFA referee with a beard
And what about the UEFA and FIFA competitions? Is an international career only possible with a shave, like in basketball? Nobody has complained publicly, and one person from Germany is encouraging: Daniel Schlager has been whistling in the professional field since 2015, currently with a subtle, modern full beard. Apparently, this did not harm the 32-year-old. He has been a FIFA referee since December 2021 and will therefore also represent the DFB internationally in the future.