Alaba and Messi: hair as change catalyst

A new hairstyle might help footballers put recent problems behind them

One aspect of Samson theory in football is the role of hair as a change catalyst. I quote:

a modified hairstyle is actively used to break a period of poor form

In an era of advanced nutrition, mental training and applied sports physiology, the casual observer might doubt that the modern footballer looks to his hair to clear his mind of recent problems and/or change his performances.

But we accept such behaviour as perfectly normal in real life, so why not in football?

As anecdotal evidence, I give you Alaba and Messi in the summer of 2016…

Alaba’s EURO troubles

The Austrian team didn’t do well at EURO 2016.

Touted by many as dark horses, they unfortunately turned out to be ponies on their way to the glue factory. They came bottom of their group, losing 2-0 to Hungary, scraping a “backs-to-the-wall” 0-0 draw against Portugal, then achieving the remarkable feat of losing 2-1 to Iceland.

The shock and shame of the Iceland loss faded a little once England managed to repeat that result. So some good came out of England’s EURO performance.

David Alaba, mainstay and star of the team, had a disappointing tournament by his high standards. Played out of position after a long season, he was substituted off against Portugal in what Football365 described as EURO 2016’s Worst Individual Performance. He even made Marca’s worst team of the tournament.

How did he respond?

According to Austria’s society magazine “Seitenblicke”, writing about Alaba (my translation):

Sometimes you need a new hair colour or hairstyle to put unpleasant things behind you (like a messed up European Championships)

Judge for yourself:

Before | After | Later at preseason

Messi’s summer troubles

Compared to Messi in summer 2016, Alaba might have had it easy.

He was given a 21-month sentence for tax irregularities (which he won’t have to serve) and lost his fourth successive final with Argentina, missing a penalty in the process.

How did he respond?

According to Austria’s national broadcaster, the change of look was a reaction to the troubles of the summer. The Irish Independent struck a similar tone, describing a change in appearance as Messi “looking for a bit of a fresh start ahead of the new season”.

Judge for yourself:

Before | After

And to add even more fuel to the Samson theory fire, some online observers suggested that Messi’s style change might have been an attempt to emulate Aaron Ramsey, whose new blonde look preceded some excellent performances as Wales reached the EURO 2016 semi-finals.

My money is on Messi and Alaba enjoying a rapid return to form…