Turkish club chairman plans to fine any player with a beard

I am 80 years old, and I shave every single day. You are a sportsman. You should be a model for the youth.He cited the examples of Turkish international goalkeeper Volkan Demirel (pictured at the top) and Besiktas manager Slaven Bilic (below) as particularly bad influences.Not stopping there, Cavcav revealed that he has attempted to persuade the Turkish Football Federation to introduce a nationwide ban on footballers’ beards, only to be told by its chairman that it might contravene UEFA regulations:He told me that they could not impose such a restriction because UEFA would not let them do it. I am fed up with this UEFA. I wish we had some other place to play our football.Cavcav’s observations on sleeve tattoos, players wearing short-sleeve shirts but with long-sleeve lycra underneath, or the increasingly lost art of pulling socks way up above the knee have not been published.It is easy to become frustrated with modern football, a game littered with greed, corruption and cynicism. And yet, sometimes something will happen that reminds you why you fell in love with the sport in the first place.San Marino played Estonia on Saturday evening while most of England wondered whether or not Wayne Rooney was overrated. The minnows managed to secure a 0-0 draw and end a run of 61 straight defeats.This was the first point San Marino have ever managed in the history of European Championship qualification. Goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini kept only the fourth clean sheet in the history of the tiny nation.This is what sport ought to be about. A bunch of plucky part-timers triumphing (well, drawing) against the odds. And the best part? Look how much they enjoyed it. Some have suggested such nations should no longer be involved in qualification but it is hard to watch the video at the top of the page and come to the same conclusion.It’s a goalless draw and yet the players celebrated as though they’d won the World Cup. Their childlike glee is contagious and one can’t help but smile watching the footage. Sepp Blatter and the like might be doing their best to destroy football but stories like this will always restore one’s faith in the game. After all, the good will out.Bakudaily.Az