CBC-Sports

Tuck it in!

July 1, 2009 01:49 PM | Posted by   Ron Kuipers  

It's Wednesday night in Oakville, Ont., and I'm coaching my daughter's under-11 team and it's another fun and entertaining evening of soccer and we're fortunate to head home an hour later celebrating a victory.

When I get home I go straight to my computer to post the final score and that's when I discover an email that suggests our entire team is guilty of a crime so shocking and so scandalous, I'm using words like 'shocking' and 'scandalous' to describe it.

The email is from our convenor who's passing along a message from our local soccer association reminding coaches to make sure all player jerseys are tucked into shorts. The email also says the club is asking the referees to be on the look out for boys and girls who do not tuck in their jerseys.

Yes, because they did not have their jerseys tucked in, the under-11 Orange Armadillos girls' squad committed a shocking and scandalous fashion crime!

Why the tuck?

This is my 9th season coaching minor soccer in Canada and I don't remember having a directive like this before.

Every once in a while we get a senior referee asking the kids to tuck-in before the game starts but nothing as big and official as this. And that's when it dawned on me: I have absolutely no idea why the kids have to tuck in their jerseys in the first place.

Is it for some sort of safety scenario I've never heard of? Is it to keep players from pulling at the loose part at the bottom? I honestly don't know what the official reason to 'tuck in' is so I decided to find out.

I emailed the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) to see what it thinks about all this attention to attire. I got the following reply a few days later from Joe Guest who's the Deputy General Secretary and Director of Refereeing for the CSA.

"The practice of tucking in the jerseys at the youth level is part of the overall culture of learning to respect the game, what it stands for and instilling some form of team ethos and/or discipline to those participating," said Guest.

"Although you will not find this rule in the Laws of the Game, certain leagues and clubs have adopted this as part of their competition rules and/or club rules to reinforce the message that soccer is a team sport, that there is a team identity and that the overall practice of sports and fair play requires a certain set of rules to be adhered to which includes the requirement to dress uniformly. At FIFA competitions, it is often the normal practice that teams are required to tuck in the jersey for no other reason than to ensure uniformity."

Respect and equality

And there you have it. Turns out it's a team thing and it's about everyone looking equal and it's about respect.

It's also up to each individual organization in Canada to decide if they want to take a more forceful approach to apparel which is exactly why my association is clamping down on Oakville's outerwear outlaws.

Personally, I'm not sure where I stand on the new dress code. I think my team and the kids we play each week are doing an excellent job of respecting the game while playing with their jerseys untucked.

Having said that, a strict dress code continues to apply to many minor hockey organizations in Canada. Kids arrive at the rink on game day wearing a dress shirt and a tie because of a long-standing ritual promoting respect for the tradition of hockey.

So what do you think? Does it really matter if the girls in the North Okanagan Youth Soccer Association are wearing their jerseys inside their shorts?

Does it matter if the boys in the Newfoundland & Labrador Soccer Association are wearing their jerseys outside their shorts?

Is this a serious case of 'Garment-Gate' or is this simply 'Much Ado about Tucking?'

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