Campaigners call for Beard Assistant Referee (BAR) at Euro Football Championship

June 18th

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has called for the introduction of a Beard Assistant Referee at the European Football Championship to compliment the use of VAR.

The campaigners say that too many beard related events go unactioned at international football games and with many players now hirsute the matter has taken on a degree of urgency.

On Monday Olivier Giroud came on as a substitute for France who were playing Austria and was involved in an incident that narrowly avoided damage to his beard and hair combo. No action was taken by the referee.

The Beard Assistant Referee would be an easy add-on to VAR and could be used to check the following:

Where beards are tugged by an opponent-foul play

Where overly-robust tackling leads a players beard to impact with the pitch causing potential follicle damage

A check to see if a players beard was playing them on or off side

BLF Organiser Keith Flett said,its time VAR entered the 2020s and that means having BAR as an add-on to the technology