More and more players in the women's game are starting to use protective headbands wen they play to cushion the blow received during a clash of heads. In a recent Women's International, 7 of the 11 starters in a Brazilian National game were wearing the protective gear. Now players from almost every country playing the women's game are trialing the headwear.

What do you think to the phenonomen? A good/bad idea, would you consider wearing one?

That's embarassing to the game!!! Shinguards are enough. That's all we need (and I would prefer not having to wear them).

Seriously though... maybe they wear them to keep their hair up, or just because of their sponsors. I don't know. A women should answer.

Or maybe they don't want any chance of minor brain damage in the future
I don't see how it's "embarassing". Just because it's football doesn't mean people can't wear things to protect themselves from getting hurt

They look like Gladiators (from the tv show, not like the roman type).
Although they look stupid, its very understandable the women wearing them, lets be honest. Its a natural fact that women arent as physically tough as men, its reasonable that they should be wearing a little protection on their heads.

However, surely they would get in the way when they are heading the ball?
Its a major downfall to wearing them in my opinion.

It's a good point Matty, but they will also go into aerial battles with a lot more confidence because of the protection. I think even with th padding getting in the way, they will improve their heading ability due to the new found confidence where they may once have been a little pessimistic.

i think this is absolutely ridiculous. sure, this will protect them from head injuries but what next? i've seen a lot of cheek bone fractures in football players so does that mean that everyone will start wearing those goofy protective masks? maybe we'll even get cups, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist pads, and then next thing you know some ppl will say we'll need shoulder pads because of the dangers of dislocating shoulders while trying to jostle other players to get the ball. sound ridiculous? well then why should the head be any different?

ok fine so maybe the head is more important and makes more sense to protect but we didn't need this for over a hundred years in this game and we don't need to start with something like this. afraid of clashing heads? well you shouldn't be playing this sport at a professional level then girls.

Maybe they just want to wear them. They can wear whatever they want. Why is everyone always talking about these things, they want to wear them let them wear them and just let 'em be

Yeah I agree, jeez Owen4Ever calm down, people should be free to wear whatever they want, no one is telling you to start wearing head gear and all those other stuff you were adding on

I know why 7 of the 11 ladies from the Brasilian team were wearing it. Simply because they get paid to do it, and most of them don´t receive good money for playing football. That is it. Pure marketing.

exactly, and thats the only real reason people are wearing them or they actually want to protect their head

So it is sort of like a womens fashion thing then?

then they really don't WANT to wear it do they... so if they can wear whatever then maybe i'll just walk out onto the pitch with my darth vader costume and whenever somebody comes near me to steal the ball i'll just slash them in half with my light saber and then i'll just use the "force" to shoot the ball in the net.

just tryna say i think it looks ridiculous. scrunchies are a women's fashion thing. this, this....... is a catastrophe.

There is a difference between the headgear they are wearing and your little Star Wars scenario: WE're talking about sport equipment, as in your Vader costume argument is completely out of context of the discussion.. ie, I hardly see what would make that comparison valid.

well maybe i want to wear a darth vader costume to protect my body from being checked, balls from getting kicked, and my cool helmet will substitute as the headgear. and if i'm playing in chile or something where it's very high and little air to breathe in, my cool breathing system thingy of the darth vader costume will serve me well.

SPORTS equipment... key word there. I mean, if Star Wars all of a sudden starts making Vader costumes that are designed for sports then by all means, look foolish and wear them, but they don't, so your comparison isn't valid.. They are not a sporting company, or making gear to be worn for sport purposes. The head gear these women are using are for sport. Vader is a fictional character that has nothing to do with football.........

just to clarify, at first i meant to use that analogy as a hyperbole to emphasize my point that i think they look ridiculous. and then i went further when you took it as it was.

^Okay I see what you're getting at. But to be honest, I took it seriously because before you started with your Star Wars thing, I responded to one of your earlier posts saying that "I think people should be able to wear whatever they want". So I assumed when you started off with "If people can wear whatever they want...." that you were trying to literally make a point with the Star Wars business, which is why I thought it necessary to point out that we're talking about sport equipment not costumes, but now I see what you meant so nevermind! haha

I don't see what all the fuss is about, If you want to wear head protection wear it if you don't, then don't.
It shouldn't be embarassing either, it's like a jock strap...I guess....

nah wouldn't wear one, you don't need em, i bet that backfires though lol

Monster Manc, this isn't women's fashion in any way, it's just a safety measure. As someone else mentioned, it would be just similar to a jock strap I suppose and you have a choice as to whether you want to wear them or not.

I used to think they were ridiculous until I got to university. And then I saw that during even during training some teammates of mine were getting head injuries just due to heads colliding and it was also happening during games. Also, we trained with some Adidas balls this year that were AWESOME to shoot with, but they were EXTREMELY hard and heading would lead to concussions. Because of this, some of the girls were looking to wear this head gear just during training but I mean, we'll just be getting a new ball next year instead of those ones - I have no idea of the exact type they were.

Ah so, rambling on above - point is: If you feel that it'd be safer to wear one, do it. From what I know and who i've talked to, they don't get in the way and it's just something you get used to. I'd rather wear something that would save me from getting a concussion instead of getting one and not being able to play.

Exactly how I feel, good post, they look rediculous and would definetly hamper heading ability.