Can sports persons have tattoos have a bad influence on viewers? The Chinese government thinks so. The agency that regulates sports in China has banned national footballers from sporting tattoos. It has also asked those who have tattoos to cover up while playing.

The General Administration of Sport of China (GAS) has that once the Chinese Football Association implements it, the move will "strengthen football players' lives, training and competition management", and demonstrate "positive spirit" and "set a good example for society." (https://mothership.sg/2021/12/remove-tattoos-football-china/)

While the national players or seniors can cover their tattoos when playing, the regulator wants to send a stern warning to youngsters. For instance, players in the national and U-23 teams have been "strictly forbidden" to have new tattoos.

For U-20 national teams and lower national teams, GAS has said that they will not recruit youngsters with tattoos at all.

Body ink in Chinese culture is often associated with criminals and organised gangs. And with many players sporting tattoos, the government want sports persons to be "good examples" for the people who watch them on television. The authorities have not limited themselves to tattoos. For instance, in 2020, a women's university match was called off after players of Fuzhou University were told they could not play with dyed hair and they were forced to forfeit the game. (https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3113387/ban-womens-soccer-team-over-dyed-hair-revives-debate-china)

Chinese netizens are divided on the issue of regulators banning players for tattoos, hair dye or even weird hairstyles. Questioning the rationality, some on the Chinese social media platform, Sina Weibo, said that it didn't make sense to focus on "trivial things" as long as players played well and won matches. But the Chinese government thinks differently. (https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1209200.shtml)

Read more:

China bans its national football players from getting tattoos:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-59827047

Why China wants ink removed:
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/30/football/china-footballers-tattoo-ban-spt-intl/index.html