Why Do Footballers Cover Their Mouths?
Photo Credit – Tsutomu Takasu (no changes made)
In the modern game, it’s rare to see two footballers communicating without covering their mouths. But why do footballers cover their mouths? In this article, we discuss all the reasons why footballers do this during matches including – to amplify their voices, to avoid media attention, to have tactical or private conversations and more.
Table of Contents
Why Did Footballers Start Covering Their Mouths?
You have to go all the way back to Euro 2000 to discover the reason why footballers started covering their mouths whilst talking.
France had just won the tournament, and Didier Deschamps was having a conversation with head coach Roger Lemerre on the pitch after the final. This conversation was caught on camera, and some lip-readers understood that Deschamps was telling Lemerre that he was thinking of retiring from playing.
As you can imagine, this news spread like wildfire, with numerous press outlets leaking the story before the French national team were able to announce the news themselves. From there on, Deschamps was spotted covering his mouth on several occasions, and this caught on in the wider football community.
In 2014, the Brazilian team were constantly pictured covering their mouths during the Brazil World Cup. This trend hasn’t gone away, either, with players still regularly covering their mouths during matches.
Why Do Footballers Cover Their Mouths?
Footballers cover their mouths during football matches for the following reasons:
- To amplify their voices
- To stop the media understanding what they’re saying
- To have tactical discussions
- To have private conversations
- To hide bad language
- To make a political statement
To Amplify Their Voices
The main reason why footballers cover their mouths while having a conversation with another player is to amplify their voices. This might seem hard to believe when we discuss the other reasons, as it could appear that footballers don’t want to be heard.
But they do want to be heard! The thing is, when footballers are in full stadiums playing matches, it can be hard for other players to hear them over the noise of the crowd. To overcome this, footballers have started to cover their mouths with their hands to help amplify their voice. This makes it easier for another player or coach to hear them.
Phil Hall, a PR consultant who has worked with lots of Premier League teams, has said that he was told by a player that this was the main reason why footballers started doing this. Although this won’t be the primary reason for every player covering their mouths, it is for the majority of cases.
This will be news to a lot of fans, as they might initially think that footballers cover their mouths to try and muffle their voice so that they’re not as easily heard.
To Avoid Lip-Reading
Another reason why footballers cover their mouths is to avoid lip-reading. If a match is being televised, footballers might make an active effort to cover their mouth so that their words can’t be lip-read afterwards.
If the match is on TV, journalists have been known to employ professional lip readers to try and decipher what footballers and managers are saying during the game. This helps them create news stories, that won’t always be factual.
To Have Tactical Discussions
Footballers might cover their mouths when talking to each other or during a conversation with their manager to discuss tactics. This is something that clubs like to keep as secret as possible, because if their tactics are revealed, they could potentially put themselves in a weaker position for future matches.
The most tactical football managers are likely to encourage mouth covering during these conversations, especially if they are changing tactics midway through a match. If the opposition is able to get any kind of idea of what tactical changes they are making during the match, they’ll be able to use this information to their advantage and make changes to their tactics accordingly.
Football at the highest levels is usually decided by the finest of margins, and this is a prime example of a fine margin that teams could have access to if footballers don’t cover their mouths.
To Have Private Conversations
As well as tactical conversations, footballers will cover their mouths to have private conversations with other players. Footballers have lots of friends within the game, and a lot of their friends will play for other teams in the league.
This means that when two friends teams play against each other, they’ll probably take the opportunity to have a catch-up on the pitch. These are likely to be private conversations, discussing information that they don’t want other players and the media to know about. This is another reason why footballers cover their mouths.
To Hide Bad Language
One of the more obvious reasons why footballers cover their mouths is to hide bad language. Swearing is really common in football, and players might decide to cover their mouths when they decide to use awful language on the football pitch.
This helps footballers maintain a good public image. If they were to be seen regularly swearing when their matches are shown on television, they might start to develop a bad image to fans across the world.
To Insult an Opposition Player
Following on from hiding bad language, footballers might choose to cover their mouths while insulting an opposition player. Football can become extremely heated at times, with insults being thrown around by players regularly.
Why do footballers cover their mouths? To stop the world knowing about an insult they’ve given to an opposition player.
To Make a Political Statement
Football players have also covered their mouths in order to make a political statement. Before the start of their first match at the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Japan, the German starting XI all use their hands to cover their mouths for their pre-match photograph.
This was in protest against FIFA banning the “One Love” captain armbands, which stood for inclusivity and diversity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Footballers Advised to Cover Their Mouths?
When looking into the matter, PR consultant Phil Hall found that football players weren’t being advised to cover their mouths to conceal any tactical ideas. It’s unclear whether they are being advised to cover their mouths for any other reasons, though.
Why Have Footballers Only Started Covering Their Mouths Recently?
Due to the exposure footballers receive and the increase in coverage around football matches, players are constantly put under the microscope by fans, journalists and other interested stakeholders. When there was a lot less coverage, there was less risk when players would make comments on the pitch, so they didn’t feel like they needed to conceal their words.
Do Footballers Cover Their Mouths in Training?
Sometimes footballers will cover their mouths in training. They’ll do this if there are cameras from media and news outlets covering the training sessions to avoid the chance of the media stirring their words.
Does Mouth Covering Only Happen in Football?
No, mouth covering is common in a number of sports, especially tennis and badminton. The trend in football actually started later than these sports.
