As it turns out certain shirt designs back then, used to include another layer of fabric on the inside (probably to maximize perspiration), a fragile layer actually, which would rip to shreds during post-goal celebrations if the players took off their shirt without being too careful. The player would then have to come off the field and be given a replacement shirt, the whole thing would look very ridiculous on TV and delay the game unnecessarily.

With that said, the official FIFA rules state that even simply raising your shirt over your head (without necessarily removing it) is also punishable by a yellow card, negating perhaps the justification I just offered. Regardless, that whole “gentlemanly” thing Blatter seems to advocate makes no sense at all, so I’m with you on that one Chris.

This is the same man who would not allow Cameroon to wear their one-piece kit for the 2004 African Cup of Nations. Utter BS.

I always assumed that it was penalised because they wanted to discourage players sloganeering by wearing tee-shirts with messages on them underneath – which is in itself is a v questionable thing to discipline. But even were that the case, it’d be much easier to hand out retrospective punishments [like a fine] for players violating the rule.