Do soccer players wear cups? It’s a simple question with a simple answer, so maybe the query should be rephrased: Why don’t male soccer players wear cups?
A cup is a piece of protective gear worn while playing certain sports to protect a player with male reproductive organs from injury or pain when receiving contact to the groin area. They are typically hard pieces of plastic, but can also be of the softer, more malleable variety.
Cups are most common in baseball, where the small, hard ball can easily and severely impact one’s family jewels.
Do Soccer Players Wear Cups?
Soccer players do not typically wear cups. This is made painfully obvious whenever a player goes down injured after receiving contact in the groin area, or a nefarious player attempts to gain an advantage.
While there are players who do wear extra protection down under, the vast majority prefers the freedom of movement not allowed by most protective gear worn in the pants. Kicking a ball in various positions requires the body to be as nimble as possible.
Soccer is a sport of grace, pace and being in the right place. Having an extra piece of plastic in your shorts as you run around the pitch is a sure way to slow you down.
So maybe we should look at the question from another direction.
Why Don’t Soccer Players Wear Cups?
The truth of the matter is, soccer players with male reproductive organs are at risk of serious injury and/or pain while playing the beautiful game. While the risk is relatively low, the possible pain is not.
A ball kicked at 50 mph can leave a welt on any part of the body, let alone the sensitive groin region. A stray hand or elbow can inflict extreme pain, whether intentional or not. And a boot to the wrong ball can result in massive pain and lasting injury.
A cup, even a soft one, could prevent pain and injury in a number of situations.
But for some reason, the only piece of protective gear worn by nearly all male soccer players are shin guards, which are required by the laws of the game.
Why is this? As mentioned above, freedom of movement is a huge necessity in soccer. No sport requires its players to move his or her legs, hips and groin area more than soccer.
But some of it also comes down to the machismo of the sport. No one wants to be the only person protecting his junk on the team, opening himself up to bullying from his peers.
Plus, the mere mention of one’s genitalia is enough to make many in the world cringe.
This article is already more than 400 words in and hasn’t even mentioned the word penis or testicles. This is due to the way the sexual organs are so often viewed as a taboo to speak about in the prude world of Anglo Protestants, who helped proliferate the game throughout the world more than a century ago. To go out of ones way to protect these parts could be seen as similarly taboo.
But penises and testicles need protection!
Speaking from experience, there isn’t much worse than a testicle injury — maybe torture or death, but even the latter could be considered a form of relief from the worst of injuries. And severe injury can lead to the loss of the ability to reproduce.
Last year, a player in Spain’s second division had to receive 10 stitches to his penis after he was kicked below the belt (by a teammate, no less). Wouldn’t wearing a cup be better than sowing your penis back together?
There is a reason so many people go to Google to search: "Do soccer players wear cups?" Every time a player is kicked in the testicles or blocks a shot with his groin, the question comes up.
Soccer players with male reproductive organs should remember you only get one life, one healthy body to protect (at least until science advances a little further). It might just be worth wearing a cup.
That said, I would never consider personally wearing a cup myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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