• Football

Ban the beard, says Turkish club's president

Moustachioed Ilhan Cavcav is evidently not a fan of anything more than a top-lip tickler © Getty Images

Enlarge

The president of Turkish club Genclerbirligi has decided to fine any of his side's players who sport beards by claiming they are a bad influence on youngsters.

Ilhan Cavcav, who sports a moustache himself, will fine players 25,000 Turkish Lira - around £7,150 - if they do not follow his demands and says players such as Olcay Sahan, Volkan Demirel, Selcuk Inan and Besiktas manager Slaven Bilic are setting a poor example.

"I am 80 years old, and I shave every single day," he says. "You are a sportsman. You should be a model for the youth."

Cavcav tried to get the Turkish Football Federation chairman Yildirim Demiroren to adopt a nationwide beard ban for players, though railed against UEFA after being informed such a ban would contravene regulations.

"[Demiroren] told me that they could not impose such a restriction because UEFA would not let them do it," he added. "I am fed up with this UEFA. I wish we had some other place to play our football."

Cavcav would presumably baulk at Aston Villa fan @GarethRDR's attempt to see what each and every member of the Villans' first-team squad and staff would look like with Roy Keane's beard.

Credit goes to GarethRDR on Villa Talk but this is just brilliant #avfc had to share it pic.twitter.com/aKyqJejUgE

— Maradona_AVFC10 (@Maradona_AVFC10) September 17, 2014

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd