Wimbledon's all-white rules: A tradition gone too far?

Maria Sharpaova during her first round match at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships

England has always loved white. It’s almost like the people believe that white brings a kind of royal vigour in whatever they do, and they can’t stop instilling that same mindset into everyone else in the world of sports.

White and England have always gone hand in hand. Look at Test cricket: the tradition of all-whites started during the time when our grandfathers were still kids, or maybe weren’t even born yet, and today the tradition still goes strong. The national football team wears white and so does the rugby team.

But the situation becomes a little dicey when it comes to tennis. When the annual Wimbledon tournament takes place on the lush grasses of the All England Tennis Club every year, the all-white dress code comes into sharp focus. But now, the officials have gone a step further by actually spelling out how much colour is allowed in the players’ outfits, right down to their underwear.

According to Wimbledon spokesman Jon Friend, there is a full laundry list (no pun intended) of rules that players need to adhere to at Wimbledon. A coloured trim is allowed on their outfit, but only as long as it is up to 1 cm wide and on the very edge of the piece of clothing. And heaven forbid if any coloured item of clothing, wherever it is worn, becomes visible during play due to perspiration. If the red undershorts worn by a player become visible at any time during the match, he or she would be marched to the referees’ office to change!

The idea of wearing white and only white not only intrigues me but also makes me apprehensive about certain other side-effects of the rule.

Now, I have absolutely no issues with the idea of white but then not even a tinge of any other colour being allowed makes it a serious issue. Can you imagine the kind of effect this can have on kids who still go to school and have to wear the darned uniform every day? I fear the day when schools take a cue from the Wimbledon officials and ask their kids to wear all whites, evengoing to the extent of checking whether the students have worn white-coloured undergarments!

Last year scores of British people watched in shock when players like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova entered the court with coloured paddings. The officials then saw their traditions and principles facing a serious chance of flowing down the gutter and decided to take matters in their own hands.

I sometimes wonder if the Brits have some sort of unexplained obsession with the colour white, so much so that they can’t even stand a tinge of any other colour. But call it obsession, madness or love, the phenomenon has gone to severe heights in the game of tennis. If you are visiting London to watch the finals and you catch even a strand of colour on the border of a player’s T-shirt or a female player’s brassiere, then don’t be surprised if the very next moment the offending player is summoned to the referee’s office, where suitable alternative clothing awaits.

But the the madness will have to stop sooner or later, not because we don’t like white or people wearing white, but because we don’t like the history and elitism attached with it. We don’t like it because Wimbledon being one of the most watched tournaments in the world can affect the mindset of the global audience. It’s entirely possible for those poor people watching the matches, who wouldn’t even know how to hold a racquet, to suddenly get dragged forcefully into the snooty elite club of ‘all whites’.

And as I say this I suddenly remember a tweet which I read somewhere which said, “Watching Wimbledon just reminds me how dirty my white shirt is”.

It’s a stuffy, restrictive tradition, and we’re better off without it.