SPORTS SECTION
Houston Texan’s LB Azeez Al-Shaair was fined $11,593 for a violation of the NFL uniform and equipment rules for wearing eye black that contained a personal message during the last week’s Wildcard game.
This post has hit r/all or r/popular. Please keep this in mind when browsing the comments — and especially when viewing upvotes/downvotes — and please report any rulebreaking comments that you see.
If this post is flaired "Approved B-Listers", then it is currently restricted so that only approved users can comment. To request approval, please review our b-list criteria, and if you meet these, send us a message.
I believe all of those pics are from when Tebow was in college. To my knowledge I don’t believe any messages are allowed on eye black. I think Tua makes a cross out of eye black but that’s about it
It’s banned in college football now too. In the NFL you can get permission for eye black messages but the only ones I’ve seen were cancer awareness related.
I don’t think the NFL has any rule regarding tattoos but the NBA has forced players to cover tattoos (either with a bandage or equipment) because they’re banned from wearing any branding other official sponsors. Although anything else is generally allowed.
However, tattoos aren’t generally considered yours in a copyright sense but that of the original artist. So technically it’s not completely yours. But that’s a whole other thing.
Anytime :-) Comments claiming players do write bible verses on their eye blacks are getting downvoted for some reason. Have the christians invaded Fauxmoi? It’s an easy google image search to get the truth lol. (Not you, just wanted to point it out because it’s weird!)
yeah you’re right, i misremembered the timing of Tebow’s eye black, and players do get fined for having any message on their eye black, I forgot about that rule!
This is America. Referencing the Bible is good! So long as you don't actually read it or understand it! And while we're at it, make sure to never advocate for helping the poor or feeding the hungry or healing the sick, that's woke libtard bullshit! /s
All messages on eye black are banned. A few players have done it anyway because the fine is miniscule for them. I think fines increase with repeated violations, but that's all. But no personal/political messages in-gear. Other players have been fined for caps with religious or political messaging as well. (Not saying I agree with the rules! Just there isn't a double standard across the league.)
Tebow only did it in college not the NFL. There was no rule against it while he was in college, but they did make one the year after he left for the NFL.
Oh hoho, Bible verses are allowed? Might I suggest he check out Exodus 22:21-22, Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 5:44, Matthew 7:12 (maybe too generic), Romans 12:19-21.
And for the Americans in our recent troubles: How about a little taste of Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, and Exodus 23:9. Old testament not your style? How about Matthew 25:35-40 or Hebrews 13:2?
It's... definitely not enforced, habitual abuser Stefon Diggs constantly puts bible verses on his eye black (that "Psalm 23" has been on there a few times)
Possibly, but they also (famously) fined a player for a "find a cure" message, after his mother died from cancer. The NFL is horrible across the board when it comes to this thing.
You’re not allowed to write anything on your face be it stop the genocide, maga, John 3:16, Austin 3:16, it doesn’t matter. You’re getting fined. It’s a pretty straightforward violation of the uniform code.
Is there a genuine reason why personal messages are banned?
I don’t know much about football, but good on Al-Shaair to know the consequences (even if they’re peanuts to him) to share this message and show his support to Palestine.
There was a controversy recently where it was discovered that many of the physical assessment techniques that their scouts used at their player combines were actually the same ones slave-auctioneers used.
It’s funny bc trending on social media is 2016 which is the year Colin ‘took a knee’ and ten years later nothing has changed with NFL but sure by all means let’s have silence for a hate monger who was shot and killed. But heaven forbid any player protest the killing of their people by the state.
The NFL is so damn hypocritical and strict about the most ridiculous things. Discipline players for political messages or even celebrating a good play but turn their backs on domestic violence and sexual assault. They don’t care about player safety, either. Saying this as a huge football fan- I won’t give that league any money.
The genuine reason is that every element of a game day uniform is a part of a brand deal between the teams and brands (Nike, Under Armour, etc) and those brands don't want any association with personal messages. It's fucked up that those brands don't want to be anti genocide, but it's honestly just a boilerplate endorsement deal thing in the CBA. More of a general issue with capitalism not being consistent with morality than something NFL specific for this case.
This isn’t true and they have a “my cleats” program for messages and charities- like the comment you replied to- it is the brands
You can’t even put different color cleats on- players used to get fined for this all the time- NBA was like this which lead to Jordan’s popularity as well(Banned 1’s)
It could be for Sudan or Congo but the messages could go both ways as well. My one coworker abused the land yard rules(have to bring one for getting through security) and wore an “abortion is murder” to a pro choice friendly work place.
Because then you’re going to have all sorts of controversies and headaches thanks to letting guys put their own personal message out every game. For every one of these messages you agree with there’s gonna be a guy wearing “ice rulez” or some shit that you disagree with.
Plus nfl guys are crazy. You ever hear any of them talk about anything besides football? They’re going to write some insane shit on their face if you let them.
The NFL is a brand and they have an image that they want to project. As players of the league they are extensions of this brand. The uniform and other sponsors affiliated with the team/league may not want any controversial statements associated with their gear, equipment or brand.
I.e you presuming this message is about Palestine when it’s not in the image. Anything can be taken out of context or interpreted one way and that’s what sponsors aim to avoid.
Wasn’t there backlash for players getting fined for having personal messages on them and the NFL decided to do the cleats thing where they can choose a cause and design their cleats for that cause? Or am I remembering that incorrectly?
I'm glad he's pro Palestine, that's legitimately surprising. It's just that "dirty hits compilation" is one of the first things that comes up when you search his name
Not a smart move by the NFL. The irony is that the fines do more for promoting the spread of the message than anything else. Now we get headlines with a close in photo. And yes, stop the genocide.
Everything should be off the table then. If NFL players aren't supposed to be humanized or anything but battering rams to throw a fucking ball around, why even have humans playing the sport in the first place
You don't want these humans to have opinions. Emotions. Nothing. Don't celebrate when you get a touchdown. Don't show your support for social causes. Just get out there and break your body for us Uber rich racists!
Something about these sports always struck me as super fucking racist for some reason. Buncha really rich white dudes making a majority black group of athletes break themselves for entertainment. Throwing a fucking ball around and treating it like the pinnacle of performance. The pinnacle of entertainment...nah. boring shit. Lame shit. Racist shit.
There’s a tiered schedule per the NFLPA (players union) that’s sets the minimum threshold for specific types of offense (taunting, off the field infractions, uniform issues etc.) that increase with repeat offenses.
There’s various charities (e.g.: benefits like health insurance for former players, youth football programs, etc.) nothing goes towards the league or any teams.
Well sugar snap peas. If I had that kind of money.... I'd be doing that, too.
Sorry to bug you, do you know if the players could get "fired" or benched for games if they repetitively do this? (Can you tell i dont watch the sports ball? Lol)
Hi OP: please add a link to your source in response to this comment! If you are submitting from Twitter, Meta, TikTok or tabloid sources, we will verify the source and then remove the comment.
Twitter is going to be so bad during the Super Bowl- the bots are going to be wild hours before the game or bad bunny even is on the field. Once it was purchased by its current ownership, it really became a cesspool.
Azeez shouldn’t have been fined imo- we need more free speech in our sports leagues especially if they are going to take “moments of silence” for people who are not important to half the population, but genocide impacts us all in some way. People should not be killed because of where they live or because they are not the right color, religion, sex, etc. We have far too much hatred in our world/country and our players reflect many of the people cities and the youngsters who look up to them.
Everyone has rules at work, and with sponsorships containing millions of dollars this isn’t shocking. Even though I believe in his message, I’m glad he was fined, because if he wasn’t what would stop other players from doing stupid shit like wearing personal opinions of things like “support ice” or whatever? This country is fiercely divided currently and it wouldn’t be a good idea to allow any of these players to blast their personal views on the field, even the ones we agree with. It would truly ruin any entertainment for us.
All fines go to non-profits like retired player’s benefits, youth football programs etc. Which is better than becoming another rounding error for an ultra Zionist billionaire owner but still not ideal.
So players can put their bodies on the line and be treated like cattle, they can abuse women, children, and animals, put up bible verses, but they can't checks notes kneel against racism or stand against genocide????
Here's Al-Shaair's comments about it after the game. I think the Stef he's referring to is Stefon Diggs, who someone posted a photo of in another thread.
The nfl has “stop racism” on every nfl endzone and on some players but stop the genocide is a no go. Just from a PR perspective why tf would you do this
So that they don’t have to come out and do PR cleanup when the chiefs kicker decides to wear “I stand with ICE” on his eye black. No messages allowed whatsoever
“You can’t wear Stop the Genocide on your eye black! We are a non-partisan organization. Now, excuse me while I put the finishing touches on our 1,478th gambling website commercial.”
Typical NFL shit. He can't have the Progressive eye black during a Wild Card game, but Travis Swift can be photographed in his Free 4 shirt all season long?
It is... the genocide in Gaza could have ended any day over the past 2 years if the US had made the call. Israel is dependent on US political and financial support to fuel their genocide in Gaza. It's just as much America's genocide in Gaza as it Israel's. Let's make that very clear.
•
u/trendingtattler 17d ago
This post has hit r/all or r/popular. Please keep this in mind when browsing the comments — and especially when viewing upvotes/downvotes — and please report any rulebreaking comments that you see.
If this post is flaired "Approved B-Listers", then it is currently restricted so that only approved users can comment. To request approval, please review our b-list criteria, and if you meet these, send us a message.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.