Earrings or any other jewelry are not allowed in soccer according to the Laws of the Game. Once the referee spots a soccer player using jewelry, they will tell them to pull them off.
However, it is not strange for soccer players to carry a totem into the field with the belief that it brings them luck. If that totem is any form of piercing like an earring, it is even more difficult to get it on the field.
Interestingly, if you recently had an earlobe piercing, you have to keep the earring in for 6 weeks. After the six weeks healing period, you can take the earrings out but always replace them with a new one immediately.
You will have to keep up with this routine for at least one year. Once you take the earrings out and leave it blank for too long, you run the risk of closing the pierced hole—and that would mean going through another round of painful piercing.
So, does that mean that you will have to abandon playing soccer for one year? What if you can hide them well enough such that the referee will not know that you have them on?
In this post, we are going to discuss various ways to cover earrings for soccer. If you recently had an ear piercing or have a favorite earring that brings you luck that you want to take into the field, this post should interest you.
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How to cover earrings for soccer?
Soccer is a contact sport and most contact sports don’t allow players to wear anything that will cause harm to themselves or other players in the game.
According to Law 4 of IFAB Laws of the Game, players must not be allowed to wear anything that is dangerous including necklaces, rubber bands, earrings, bracelets, rings, and so on. The law doesn’t even allow the use of tape to cover the jewelry.
The reason is that earrings can get pulled intentionally or unintentionally during a tussle for the ball leaving the player with a bloody gash. Perhaps, this is why earrings are banned in all soccer variants.
Consequently, match officials are saddled with the responsibility of checking the player to make sure they don’t carry any banned equipment into the field. However, players still frequently sneak their jewelry into the ring.
You won’t blame them after the 2012 Chelsea players dressing room robbery which saw players lose watches and wallets. There are also other similar incidents that have made soccer players skeptical about leaving their treasured jewelry in the dressing room.
So, how can you sneak your favorite earring into the pitch without the match officials noticing it? The following steps should work the magic.
It is important to mention that covering earrings would be more effective in non-competitive games. In competitive games, you may still be caught and asked to take them off. In such cases, it would be best to leave them with a friend you can trust if you are skeptical about the dressing room.
Also, for this technique to work, your earring needs to be small (non-dangling) and the diameter of the top should not be more than 1.5 cm. Anything bigger than that will be hard to conceal.
Step 1: Cut out a band-aid of your skin color of 2 cm in diameter
Without a doubt, taping is the only way to conceal your earring. While there are numerous adhesives that you can use to tape the earrings, we strongly recommend band-aids for two main reasons.
- Their adhesives are strong enough to cover the earring and endure sweat but can easily come off when you want them to.
- You can easily find a band-aid that blends with your skin color—and this is crucial so that the match officials don’t raise an eyebrow.
Last update on 2023-11-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Once you have the band-aid that matches your skin color, the next thing you will need to do is to cut out a small piece that is round enough to cover your earring. You can achieve a smooth cut using a pair of scissors.
However, it may be difficult to achieve smooth circular cuts with a pair of scissors. In this case, you may need a paper puncher to achieve that precision—bearing in mind that the smoother your cut, the more likely it will go unnoticed.
Step 2: Apply the tape over the earring
Put on the earring and align the band-aid over the earring such that the center of the band-aid is placed at the center of the earring.
Gently tap the sides of the band-aid until it overlaps the earrings and rests on your ears. Note that only a small portion of the band-aid should rest on the ears so that you don’t have much difficulty getting them out.
Tip: even if you are wearing earrings on one ear, we would advise that you tape both ears to make them look more natural and remove all forms of suspicion.
Step 3: Enjoy your game with caution
Even when the officials fail to notice your little secret, it is always important to exercise caution when you are playing with earrings because it can be a recipe for disaster.
Firstly, avoid headings as much as possible, especially headings where you have to jump to reach the ball. The reason is that players often hit heads together or use their hand or elbow on the face of another during a jump.
That means you can easily be hit on the ear during an aerial duel. Even if you don’t get injured in the process, the pain will be out of this world.
Also, avoid any close contact with opposing players that involve lots of tugging, shoving, and pushing. So, you may have to change your game tactics to making quick passes whenever you are with the ball rather than trying to hold onto the ball and draw your opponents to yourself.
Step 4: Remove the band-aid carefully
When the 90 minutes and possibly extra time has elapsed, you will have to take the band-aid out to give your ear some breathing space. If the band-aids are wet from sweat, they should easily come off.
However, if the band-aid is still strongly glued to the ear lobes, try not to tug on them with force to avoid hurting the skin of your earlobes in the process. There are two ways to weaken the adhesive on a band-aid.
- You can spray alcohol on it or use cotton swabs dipped in alcohol to clean the surface of the band-aid and around the earlobes.
- You can apply baby oil or cooking oil on the band-aid and around the earlobes to weaken the adhesives.
After applying either of them, leave for around 2 minutes and try again. If the adhesive is still strong, apply more of your chosen solvent and wait for another 2 minutes.
Conclusion
There are three reasons why any soccer player would want to go through the risk of covering their earrings. They are;
- Those with new piercings that may close up if they remove the earrings for an hour
- Those that are skeptical that the earrings may be stolen from their locker room
- The ones that use it as a totem or believe it rings them luck
If you happen to be in the first category, one of the things you can do is to replace the earrings with anti-allergy plastics. They are really small and almost invisible such that the officials will hardly see there is anything there.
However, they are effective in stuffing your ear piercing and preventing them from closing up.
- Small & very lightweight plastic Earring posts & backs
- Use for lightweight earring designs, kids, crafts
- 100pc (50pair) earring+backs. (Glue on your jewelry)
Last update on 2023-11-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Before going through the stress of covering your earrings, you have to decide which is more important, your earrings or your career. It sounds illogical to sacrifice your career for an earring.
Hi there, I’m Jay.
Soccer is everything in my life! My friends and I have created this blog with all our enthusiasm, passion, and understanding after years of playing pro soccer. Hope you will enjoy it!