Iranian footballers get the yellow card over ponytails and hairbands

IRAN has banned its football players from sporting ponytails and sculpted beards as part of a campaign to prevent the spread of western culture in the Islamic state.

A football federation official said yesterday

that those who defied the order ran the risk of being banned from the game. "Footballers with ponytails, hairbands and sculpted beards will be banned from playing or will be fined," the head of the federation’s public relations office, Navid Majd, said.

However, long hair, is not banned, he added. "The Prophet Muhammad had long hair," he explained.

Newspapers have reported recently that at least two players in the Iranian professional league had been warned because of "inappropriate" hairstyles. However, Mr Majd denied this.

Many Iranians are obsessed with football, and the country’s stars are considered to be role models for younger fans.

"We should respect our culture, especially our sportsmen," Mr Majd said.

Since the Islamic revolution of 1979, conservatives in Iran have continually tried to hold back the tide of western cultural influence and to promote Islamic values.

A crowd of 110,000 watched a match between Iran and Germany in Tehran this month. However, Iranian women were not allowed to see the match after the football federation upheld a ban on them entering stadiums.

Women are among the country’s most passionate football fans.

This summer, Iran’s morals police and Islamic vigilantes launched a fierce crackdown on "improper dress".

They confiscated tight coats and cropped trousers from fashionable shopping centres, and they detained scores of women every day for flouting the strict Islamic code of dress.

The code, or hejab, was imposed after the 1979 revolution and requires women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures.