The Premier League is changing how it handles hair-pulling incidents next season, and it’s all because of a moment so bizarre it sparked outrage from Manchester to Merseyside.
Remember that wild April afternoon when Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez got sent off for what looked less like a crime and more like a bad hair day? Referee Paul Tierney pulled out a red card after deciding Martinez had yanked Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s hair during a duel in the box. Replays showed Martinez’s hand barely graze the bun, undoing the elastic rather than committing an act of brutality. But the call stood, the ban stuck, and the league office took notice.
Now, after a season with three separate red cards for hair-pulling — Martinez, Everton’s Michael Keane, and Sunderland’s Dan Ballard all got the early shower — the powers that be have decided the rule needs refining. According to reports from the Premier League’s annual general meeting earlier this month, officials will be instructed to look for a “clear and deliberate action” involving “excessive force and/or brutality” before reaching for a card. In other words, accidental snags and bobble-popping touches won’t automatically send a player off.
Michael Carrick Didn’t Hold Back
Then-United boss Michael Carrick was absolutely livid after the Leeds defeat. He called it “one of the worst” decisions he’d ever seen, fuming that a touch of the hair — not a pull, not a tug — merited a red card. “He half touches the back of his hair which pulls the bobble out,” Carrick said. “It’s shocking.” United appealed the three-match ban and got nowhere, leaving Carrick and his staff shaking their heads. But the frustration apparently echoed in boardrooms beyond Old Trafford.
The modified guidance doesn’t mean hair-pulling is now legal — far from it. Officials will still card players who intentionally grab hair with force. But borderline cases like Martinez’s will now fall into a gray area, subject to interpretation rather than automatic dismissal.
Dale Johnson at the BBC notes that referees will also be asked to emphasize holding and grappling inside the box on corners and set-pieces, an area that’s become increasingly chaotic. The game improvement advisory group signed off on the tweaks, and the league hopes it reduces the number of head-scratching red cards that leave fans, players, and coaches baffled.
As for that April afternoon at Elland Road? It’s now part of Premier League lore — the moment a bun got undone and accidentally reshaped how the game handles hair pulling. Martinez probably never imagined his mitts would rewrite the rulebook, but here we are.
Leave a Comment