IT’S A SAD DAY for the world’s more climate-sensitive professional footballers: the FIFA body tasked with overseeing changes to the rules of the game has banned the snood.

The odd garment – probably best described, as Wikipedia offers, as ‘a tubular neck scarf’ – has become particularly popular this season, especially in this part of the world as the winter was harsher than usual.

But at a meeting of the International Football Association Board – comprised of four FIFA reps and one each from the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – football chiefs voted to outlaw the garment, effective from July 1 this year.

The reason is because the rules of the game are quite specific about what a player can, must, and can’t wear on the pitch – so while equipment like a shirt and shorts are considered a requirement, accessories such as the snood are officially thought to be superfluous to a footballer’s needs.

It means that players like Arsenal’s Samir Nazri, Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez, Manchester City’s Patrick Vieira, and Manchester City’s… well, the entire Man City squad – will have to suffice with the cold if it strikes again next Winter.