Ban on women’s soccer team over dyed hair revives debate in China about whether sports stars should be allowed tattoos and coloured locks
- Social media in China blew up when a women’s soccer team was made to forfeit a match because too many of the players had dyed hair
- Rules about sports stars’ hair colouring are not the only ones governing appearance in China – there are bans on tattoos, jewellery, lipstick and miniskirts
A Chinese women’s soccer team were forced to forfeit a match because too many of the players had dyed their hair.
The policy by the provincial education department also applied to university tournaments in other provinces, according to regulations released by the Ministry of Education.
“In reality, it’s fine if you get part of the hair coloured, but those bizarre colours don’t work for sure,” a staff member from the Fuzhou University’s physical education department told daily newspaper Qilu Evening News. “[In that game] we had this student who had dyed all her hair and the rival team demanded we follow the rules strictly, so we were disqualified.”
It is an international rule that a match may not start or continue if either team has fewer than seven players. Because many of Fuzhou University’s players have dyed hair, they could not field a team.
