Iran has banned soccer players from sporting ponytails

Iran has banned soccer players from sporting ponytails and sculpted beards as part of a campaign to prevent the spread of Western culture in the Islamic state, a soccer federation official says. The federation said on Thursday those who defied the order ran the risk of being banned from the game. "Soccer players with ponytails, hair-band and sculpted beards will be banned from playing or will be fined," Navid Majd, head of the federation's public relations office, told Reuters.