11 iconic accessories worn by footballers

In his seminal work Soccernomics, Simon Kuper talks about how football scouts are prejudiced in noticing talent. He alludes to this by mentioning that gentlemen prefer blonds, in the sense that players having blond hair are more noticeable to the scouts in the stands than other players on the ground and that is why we had so many blond haired players making the cut till recently.But it's not just scouts; we all have sight-based prejudices.A player that stands out from the crowd is always easier to remember, and then there are certain players who accessorise in a way that makes them hard to forget. For instance, can you picture Eric Cantona playing without his trademark erect collar? Or can you think about Djibril Cisse without remembering his various hairstyles and unique dressing sense?Accessorising in football has been gaining momentum ever since the spurt in television coverage of the sport. Here’s a look at the most iconic accessories in modern football.

#1 Snoods

The most debatable accessory of them all. Snoods or chic looking scarves have been adopted by a wide range of players, from Samir Nasri to Gianluigi Buffon. Their craze was at its peak at the start of the decade. But the old school pundits have questioned their use, adding the masculinity angle and claiming, “real men don’t wear snoods”.

Manchester United went on record to ban the neckwear from the club just to show their hard-nosed approach.

Ultimately the International Football Association Board (IFAB) did ban players from wearing the fashion accessory in the UK too, citing other injury concerns.

#2 Kinesio Tape

Kinesio Tape has slowly become this pervasive item you see every player sporting. The jury is still out on whether the tape does any good or not but the accessory has been garnering much attention ever since Gareth Bale started using it.

This Japanese tape has its therapeutic benefits and has been well received in the football world having already been of good use in other sports.

While some perceive that Kinesio tape has more of a placebo effect than anything else, others see it as a genuine help for hamstrings.

#3 Stoke City towels

Throw-ins were the new set-piece in the Tony Pulis era at Stoke City and they were a revelation. We all know about the havoc Rory Delap used to create with his long throw-ins.

Stoke started to help him out on those “cold, wet nights” by offering towels to him on the sideline. The sight of a ball boy quickly throwing in a towel (no, not like that) whenever Stoke had a throw-in was a common sight. In fact, Stoke went a step ahead in a game against Tottenham to slip in a towel piece under Ryan Shotton’s shirt so as to help them with their tactics.

Despite change in personnel, Stoke still do not shy away from a long throw-in aided by their towel/ball boys.

#4 Real Madrid head band Club

The Galactico era not only gave us lip-smacking lineups that had Luis Figo, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and David Beckham all lined up side by side. It also helped create this affinity for these thin elastic headbands that were famously worn by Real Madrid stars Beckham, Guti and the then young prodigy Sergio Ramos.

The almost invisible, thin pieces of plastic were stoutly supported by the majority of the Real Madrid squad. The headband culture persists till today. Even others such as Modric and Khedira (and earlier Mesut Ozil) were all part of the headband brigade.

The trend is not just limited to Real Madrid, with these thin headbands becoming the staple these days.

#5 Pajama clad goalkeepers

What’s more odd than to have 21 players along with the officials all wearing shorts and at one side of the pitch a goalkeeper looking too cool for school in his jammies? The pajama/tracksuit/trousers sometimes worn time and again by some or the other shot-stopper since time immemorial and for diverse reasons.

Gabor Kiraly was the main exponent of the trouser brigade having always taken the pitch wearing trousers. The fad was pretty common in the ‘90s and can still be found sported by some or the other goalkeeper.

#6 Nose tape

The ‘90s saw their own share of fads, the so-called Robbie Fowler Nose Tape being one of the most prominent examples.

The tape/plaster was again thought to be one that could help players during their exertions in the game. The strip was believed to help improve nasal breathing.

The likes of Thierry Henry and Robbie Fowler were keen adopters of the fad during the mid ‘90s.

#7 Thumb hole sleeves

Players like to experiment with their shirts (recently Mathieu Flamini was in the news for reneging on the club shirt sleeve rule by cutting down his sleeves). The shirt experiment can be seen elsewhere as well, with the growing use of thumb-hole sleeves.

The thumb hole sleeves are torn/tailored sleeves that has a hole for players thumb making the tough looking life of players (who earn thousands of pounds a week) a little bit easy. The comfy looking sleeve helps keep player’s arm shielded and gives them a sartorial assist in their goal to look cool on the pitch.

#8 Boxing Gum Shield

Yes, Boxing gum shields on a football pitch. I know football is a feisty game and players do have to rough it out during the game, but Sandro took this to a new level.

Famous for his appearance/antics/guitar/dressing room videos of the same and once the midfield engine for Tottenham Hotspur, Sandro had been sporting these gum shield for quite a long time and was joined in by his Brazil compatriot Heurelho Gomes in continuing this fad.

The exact reason behind the Brazilians securing their teeth is still not known, though Peter Crouch was also advised to wear gum shield after his injury and no doubt the accessory may well become iconic if players who actually require the gum shield or have the tendency to use their teeth try to adopt the fad (hint: Suarez).

And perhaps Aly Cissokho would have been better off using them during his failed medical at AC Milan “due to bad teeth”.

#9 Vapour Rub

When you think of vapor rub and football you think perhaps of a player suffering from cold or, in fact, an essential commodity in the physio’s bag. But no; there was a time, long before the era of technology-driven football kits, when players had to develop their own technology for help on the pitch.

One such attempt was applying vapour rub on the chest for better aspiration during the game.

Patrick Vieira was prominent in using the fad and was time and again seen with a dark vapor rub blotch in the centre of his jersey.

#10 Medical Accessories

Since certain medical conditions require specific gear to be worn on the pitch for precaution, these gear surely become an emblem; an identity for the particular player sporting them.

Petr Cech, for instance, can hardly be remembered sans his rugby style protective headgear as is the case with Cristian Chivu after his head injury.

A similar case was that of the Dutch midfield hound dog Edgar Davids who had Glaucoma and was seen with slick looking safety glasses during the majority of his career.

#11 Gloves

Gloves have become sort of ubiquitous in the current football scenario, though similarly derided as Snoods and other unmanly items in a men’s sport as perceived by their critics. With players from various regions not exactly at home in the European chilly winters, the gloves are somewhat a must for these sort of players.

Though some players find gloves fitting like a glove all season round, Pascal Chimbonda, case in point, developed some serious love for gloves.