The beard is a taboo subject: referees must whistle and look inconspicuous

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It’s almost a heartbreaking image. Eliot Antonietti (30) in a referee uniform and with a pipe in his mouth in the middle of children. The current Olten defender, who was previously also under contract in the National League with Servette, the SCRJ Lakers and Lugano, is an icon. This is because he has the longest beard in Swiss professional ice hockey. The Geneva resident recently announced to the “Solothurner Zeitung” that after his active career he would like to start a career as a referee in a few years. Currently, parallel to his playing career, he is taking his first steps at lower junior levels.

However, the question is whether Antonietti will one day, when things become serious as a referee, also stand out in this industry as a man with a long beard. Although beards are trendy in everyday life in our society, they are traditionally taboo for referees in competitive sports. The ex-referee and current MySports expert Nadir Mandioni (49) still remembers his early days in the 1990s: “Back then it was mandatory to be clean-shaven, wear a suit and tie and carry a briefcase with the rules of the game in the to have in hand. it’s the games.”

The unwritten law

Over time this has softened. And there are several referees who now have a soft little beard that goes beyond the status of a stubble – but nothing more. Referees must be unobtrusive – with their on-ice performance and with their visual appearance. A full beard does not fit into the traditional image any more than tattoos on the neck, a nose piercing or long hair.

And what does referee director Andreas Fischer (57) say today about the beard question? “It is an unwritten rule that as a referee at a performance level you do not wear a striking beard. Just like there are other unwritten rules in ice hockey,” he says. He also thinks: “The show belongs to the players. They should wear their traditional beards during the play-offs, not us referees.”

In basketball the referee complained

Today, however, Fischer would lack the legal basis to send his referees to the hairdresser, because they all have an employment contract and labor law would prohibit this. But a striking beard is not beneficial to your career, especially if you have international ambitions. Because Danny Kurmann (57), acting manager at the IIHF, says clearly: “For major tournaments at the top level, I always tell the referees that we have freshly shaved whistles. What we absolutely don’t want are three-day beards.” However, if someone insists on wearing a beard, for example for religious or other reasons, an exception will certainly be made.

There was a case in international basketball that caused a stir. German referee Benjamin Barth (45) was no longer invited to Euroleague matches because he refused to shave off his beard, which is only on his program because of his name. Barth made this public and took legal action against it on the grounds of discrimination. By doing so, he received an apology and assurance that fair standards would be set in the future.

It will take at least another five years before Eliot Antonietti becomes a referee at a competitive sporting level. So he still has a lot of time to think about what he wants to do with his beard. He also had to shave as a player – because his then coach Craig Woodcroft (54) demanded it from Servette in 2017 – with the threat that he would otherwise not play another second. But perhaps in 2030 the unwritten refereeing laws will also have been adapted to the modern spirit of the times.

Source : Blick