From Jimmy White's snooker slippers to 'excessive CLEAVAGE' in chess… sport's most bizarre clothing tales revealed

PETER CROUCH once said Thiago Alcantara could play football in his slippers.

The former Barcelona and Liverpool midfielder was just so calm and at home on the ball that he made the Anfield pitch look like his living room.

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But for snooker legend Jimmy White, he actually is playing in slippers.

Incredibly, the veteran, 64, was given permission to ditch the formal leather shoes and wear his slippers for the Scottish Open as he nurses an ankle injury.

But White is certainly not the first snooker star – or indeed sports star – to be granted special dispensation to break the strict dress code rules, while others have been punished by less forgiving chiefs.

SunSport rounds up some of the best and most bizarre tales around sporting kits, outfits and clothing.

RONNIE ‘THE SOCK-ET’ O’SULLIVAN

In similar fashion to White, Ronnie O’Sullivan has also had his fair share of shoe-nanigans.

In 2015, during the World Championships no less, he took his uncomfy smart shoes off and played in socks – before appealing to the crowd for a pair of size eights and eventually wearing the tournament director’s.

He also been given medical exemptions over the years to play in black trainers due to ongoing plantar fasciitis.

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THE WRONG TROUSERS

Sticking with snooker, and Ding Junhui could have been in Wallace & Gromit after his wardrobe blunder.

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He turned up at the 2023 English Open in his brown suit with trousers, waistcoat and bow tie – but the rules stipulated it needed to be all black.

Ding sent a pal off to the local M&S store to source the correct colour clothing but he was late to the table and forced to forfeit the opening frame.

TOOSPORTYMANLIKE CONDUCT

Is chess a sport? Well, according to the authors of the chess dress code rules and regs, it’s not.

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So much so that Dutch star Anna-Maja Kazarian was fined €100… for wearing “sports shoes”.

She wrote on X: “One of the arbiters stopped me and asked me if I could change my shoes because they were ‘strange shoes’ and considered ‘sports shoes’. It hurts to even walk in those and I definitely don’t want to use my Burberry sneakers for sports.”

A GAME OF CHESST

If that wasn’t bonkers enough, in 2012 the European Chess Union added a new clause to the code of conduct – to put a strict ban on “excessive cleavage”.

Only the top two buttons of female players’ shirts may be open while clothing must be without holes but “a pulled-together, harmonious, complete look” – and skirts can only be a certain height above the knee.

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It was all with the aim of reducing distraction away from the chest – and keeping it solely focused on the chess instead.

As for the men, their clothes must be “crisp” and “free of body odour”.

NOT IN THE HOOD BOOKS

One man who wasn’t producing body odour was James Jones. During the 2015 NFL season amid freezing temperatures, he found a loophole in the rules.

In an attempt to keep warm, he wore a green hoodie under his Green Bay Packers jersey for some matches during the winter months.

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It became a viral sensation until the NFL stepped in, poured ice-cold water on the fun and blocked hooded sweatshirts from being worn during matches.

CHIEFS WANT MORE SKIN IN THE GAME

Jones covered up too much – and so did the Norwegian beach handball team.

They were fined £1,300 for wearing cycling-style lycra shorts instead of bikini bottoms at the European Championships in 2021 – with the European Handball Federation citing “improper clothing”.

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Unsurprisingly, it caused quite the outrage and the backlash led to the federation rewriting the rulebook to allow shorts.

NORWAY IS THAT ALLOWED

More wardrobe chaos involving Norway, this time at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The team’s boring traditional dark trousers were delayed in shipping so they decided to mix it up with bright, colourful geometric-patterned golf trousers instead.

The move caused uproar among officials wanting them to ditch the vibrant outfits – only for the rules to dictate that they must simply be matching and there were no limitations on designs or colours.

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And that started a trend for Norway at subsequent Olympics as they went all out with even wackier and wilder designs.

CAT PUT BACK IN THE BAG

Serena Williams certainly went for a wacky and wild outfit for the 2018 French Open, rocking a full-body black compression catsuit.

The design was actually to help prevent blood clots, which she had suffered during childbirth.

The French Tennis Federation permitted the unique costume for the tournament – but then introduced a ban for future events.

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LEWIS NOSE BEST

There was drama in 2022 and 2023 around Lewis Hamilton’s jewellery, which was technically banned during races under the FIA’s F1 laws.

However, after a long back-and-forth, he was given a medical exemption to keep in his nose stud because there were “concerns about disfigurement with frequent attempts at removal of the device”.

GIVE HIM THE EDG

Edgar Davids was synonymous with his tinted goggles as he bossed midfields for European giants Ajax, AC Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Inter Milan… and Barnet.

The Dutchman needed the custom eyewear from 1999 after an operation to treat the degenerative condition glaucoma and repair a damaged optic nerve.

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So in order to carry on his playing career with the special protection, Davids received the green light from Fifa to allow him to wear the goggles.

MAD AS A HATTER

To say Jack Russell was eccentric would be an understatement – he would have 20 cups of tea per day and reuse the same bag for an entire Test match, soaked his Weetabix for exactly eight minutes and wants his hands amputated after he dies and preserved in formaldehyde.

But he was most famous during his 23-year cricket career for his flowerpot sunhat – which he wore for every single match across those 23 years after his debut.

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The ex-England wicketkeeper devised a special washing technique to preserve the decaying, disintegrating relic in the later years of his career, only allowed his wife Aileen to repair it – and refused to wear any other hat.

That almost saw him miss out on playing at the 1996 World Cup because he threatened to boycott – until the ICC relented and let him wear it instead of the mandated blue caps.

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