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We have somehow noticed that some football players cover their mouths while communicating with each other, especially when a substitute comes off the bench to replace his teammate. Here we can say that secrets are whispered and strategies are hatched during the match, some of the reasons players cover their mouths talking while on the pitch were revealed by a public relations consultant in the Premier League named Phil Hall.

Firstly the main reason is the Media in that the media can be your friend as well as your enemy, superstars like Messi or Ronaldo may appear on the front pages the following day from let’s say a private conversation from the pitch with the help of cameras and lip-readers picking up on exchanges. Manchester City’s Kyle Walker once said that “players cover their mouths to prevent cameras from capturing conversations.”

When you are talking and close to somebody, it amplifies your voice so that you can be heard because there is a lot of noise in the stadium. When one talks normally on a noisy loud ground the voice/sound is being spread out therefore putting your hand over your mouth and pointing it to the person you are communicating to is much easier and clearer.

Football players do so to have a tactical discussion either with the club managers or from teammates, if the opponent can have an idea or listen to the tactics they may use the information to their advantage and make changes also accordingly. Players also cover their mouths to hide bad language and maintain a good public image to their fans, swearing is so common in football and players opt to cover their mouths when they decide to use awful language or insult an opposition player.

Players and coaches started covering their mouths more often after the Euro 2000 when Didier Deschamps was conversing with coach Roger Lemerre after France had won the tournament. The conversation was caught on camera and professional lip-readers noted that Deschamps was telling Roger that he was thinking of retiring from football, the news was leaked to numerous press outlets even before the France National team could announce themselves.

Mouth covering does not only happen in football, it is common in sports like basketball, tennis, baseball, soccer and even hockey only to mention a few.