By William Petley October 13 2008
“He's always been a pretty sensible sort of kid -- except for the hairstyle (laughs).” ~ Ron Giteau, father of Wallaby Matt Giteau.
 Matrix Men ambassador Andrew Raines
For many years it was expected, if considered at all, that the hair on sportsmen’s heads looked not unlike that atop an ape. Then along came David Beckham – the world’s highest paid footballer, fashion chameleon and mover of merchandise. He kicked in and ball boys of every discipline noticed; deciding that image, for a skilled player, was now part of the game.
Suddenly, this ‘look of a sportsman’s hair’ developed into business. The change was swift: in 2003, footy blogs bagged the NRL Roosters appearance in the SunSilk “It’s for blokes” shampoo commercial as ‘pretty boys’. Five years later, a similar audience accepted without comment Matrix Men Style Control System sponsoring the Richmond Football Club.
Brent Durrant, GM of Matrix Australia confirmed, “To the best of my knowledge, this level of sponsorship is a first in the hairdressing industry … it provides a perfect opportunity for the Matrix brand to be communicated to a broad audience.” Four Richmond players are Matrix ambassadors including Andrew Raines, runner-up in the 2006 AFL Rising Star Award.
Money rolled in as players of many codes and callings became stubble-embracing; gelled, highlighted and floppy; faux-hawked and Mohawk-ed, mulleted or messy. Brylcreemed, spiked, shaved-on-the-side, perhaps sideways parted; pony-tailed (sometimes simply tied), or - for the secure – swept into a hair-band: clip, clip went the scissors, ka-ching the cash registers.
As Rooster Anthony Miniciello acknowledges, "I think the influence elite sportsmen have had on the way men care about the way they present their hair is due to a move away from the fashion-centric metro-sexual towards a more masculine and bloke-y persona that is still image and style conscious."
 Mark Coughlan
A recent edition of Men’s Style Australia supplied a bind-on guide promoting the Redken for Men range of ‘the hottest trends in men’s hair’. Of the 25 ‘heads’ featured, ten belonged to sportsmen. Products carried butch monikers, punched in lower case: densify (texturising shampoo), retaliate (anti-dandruff), maneuver (working wax), polish up (pomade), stand tough (extreme gel) and, for the greying, color camo.
Stylist Yanni Li, of Melbourne’s Man, What a Fuss salon, who worked on several of the brochure’s models, noted, “The change of men’s attitudes is huge; instead of us asking what they want; it’s them telling.” Half a day in the salon before a big game is not unusual, adds Lim; it’s now routine that looking good on the field opens up further lucrative career opportunities.
Statistics for men’s hair-care product sales cite it as 24 per cent of the men’s cosmetic, toiletries and fragrance market: a multi-million dollar deal. Redken are also sponsoring the Essendon Football Club’s prestigious The Crichton Medal. For the third year running, the L'Oréal Paris Men Expert Lounge will showcase new hair products to revheads at the 2009 Melbourne International Motor Show. (A decade ago the suggestion of such a marketing placement would have generated nothing but a big laugh in the boardroom.)
Similarly L’Oreal Paris has a partnership with Network 10 advertising product to couch coifs during AFL, rugby union, golf and Formula One events.
Rob Gattuso, brand director Ozdare, distributors of salon brand American Crew explains, “Awareness of sportsmen has become hugely important as it has given validation that men’s grooming and caring about your appearance is ok.” Covetable surfer’s hair, by the bye and sun damage aside, handily hits the shelves labeled: Garnier Fructis Surf Hair Texturising Paste.
 Nathan Brown
Stephen Foyle, creative director at Sydney’s Detail for Men, winner of the 2007 American Crew Face Off competition and who numbers 1st grade players among his clientele, points out, “Having their hair styled every four weeks no longer has a cringe factor; sport is competitive and you need to put your best foot forward but baldness is a concern.”
Cricketer Shane Warne capitalised on this by adopting a hair weave. Olympian swimmer Michael Klim made the ‘chrome dome’ agreeable by his commercial association with shaver manufacturer Braun (Klim cautioned: "You’ve got to have the head to do it"). Fellow close shaves: former Wallaby captain George Gregan and NRL’s Wendell Sailor. Less intrusive, and volume-enhanced with mousse or wax, are: hair-thickening textured crops; the short front with fuller back (the demi-mullet); distracting ‘messy dos’; and problem solving buzz cuts. (These can be observed at length on sports media.)
Larrikin curls, promoted untamed on many a rugby union player but tempered in the dreadlocks of Wallaby Lote Tuqiri and cricketer Andrew Symonds, gained recent coverage with Olympian gold medalist pole vaulter Steve Hooker. Highlights and colour hold no fear. Richmond Tiger Brett Deledio once peroxided his hair, as occasionally does Penrith Panther Jarrod Sammut; it’s a signature for suicide blond Jason Ackermanis.
Sports culture is in essence tribal. An extension of this is the sculpting - or colouring – of warrior-like ciphers into a player’s hair. Wallaby Matt Giteau was an exponent of this, citing in a 2005 column, “My hairdresser Shannon worked a bit of a good luck symbol into my hair. I’ve now got a Chinese symbol bleached into the side of my head.” A sportsman revealing this, let alone qualifying by name his hairdresser, would have once been unthinkable.
That said, and positive as this sport-led frenzy of male grooming is, follicle testing of AFL players was introduced this year since illicit drugs can be detected for up to three months in hair. And David Beckham, believed to be terrified of going bald, now keeps his hair very, very, very, sexily short.
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