In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences, varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player’s uniform, to identify and distinguish each player (and sometimes others, such as coaches and officials) from others wearing the same or similar uniforms.
The number is typically displayed on the rear of the jersey, often accompanied by the surname. Sometimes it is also displayed on the front and/or sleeves, or on the player’s shorts or headgear. It is used to identify the player to officials, other players, official scorers, and spectators; in some sports, it is also indicative of the player’s position.
The sports person can be easily spotted as referee have to do the refereeing multiple matches consisting of different teams and naturally they cannot remember the name of each player for a single match.
Referees have to point out fouls and points made by players and these fouls are penned by the guy managing scoreboard. Now to make him understand Referee won’t shout player’s jersey number in that chaotic arena, rather than that he would show a physical gesture depicting the player’s jersey number and usually it was easy to perform the gesture for consecutive numbers from 1-11 or 4-14 (In basketball) with your hands only. Thus initially players were allowed to choose numbers between 1-11.
Now when the days of ultra advanced technology have arrived there is no need of restriction on jersey numbers.
However, some people add a personal touch to their jersey numbers. The numbers could be:
• Date of birth
• Month of birth
• Year of birth
• Lucky number
• A fancy number (69, 77, 88 , 99)
In some sports the numbers became synonymous with the position of a player in the game.
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