It is that time of the year again when mustaches start to appear on the upper lip of men, whether it looks good on them or not. Some men will look like a boy who is about 14 or 15, others will look like they should be a body double for someone from history or their face should be on a postage stamp. Either way this phenomenon is Movember.
No it is not a typo, Movember runs through the month of November hence the name, and the goal is to raise awareness to prostate cancer and other mens health issues. The slogan of the official Movember foundation is ‘Change the face of men's health’ hence the idea of growing a mustache during the month of November. Since men are usually macho after a certain age, unless they have a broken leg they do not go to the doctors until its too late or they are not familiar with the symptoms of certain diseases. The movement also encourages men to live a healthier lifestyle and to look into the families history as well. The NHL and the NHL Players Association is also supporting Movember and encouraging people to donate money for a good cause. In the past a number of NHL teams did their own event as well as NCAA teams as well.
Movember has been around since 1999 when it was started by a group of guys in Australia, and it became an official movement in 2004. In the past ten years Movember has become known worldwide and has gain popularity in Hungary in the past couple of years as well.
Movember is also fun because it also is good for team bonding, plus its always great to laugh at how ridiculous everyone looks with a nice lip warmer.
LONG LIST OF MUSTACHE GROWERS
Hockey fans in Hungary if they wanted to get up in the middle of the night and tune in to see how their favorite hockey players newest facial accessory is coming or what they could do is just go to a MOL League game or to a Fehérvár AV19 match, a number of players from these teams have already stated that they will be growing a mustache no matter what they look like. For a number of years Fehérvár as a team have participated in Movember and grown mustaches. Among the younger players from the team Csanád Erdély and Benjámin Nemes have said that they are giving it a go.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t, its for a great cause,” said DAB.Docler forward Nathan Martine. Miskolc who is chasing DAB.Docler in the standings of the MOL League will be out to defeat them in the mustache war as Tyler Metcalfe and Zach Cohen said they would be interested in it while Miskolc coach Gergely Majoross will kill two birds with one stone
“Its for a good cause and my fiance likes the mustache as well,” Majoross said.
Juha Hietamäki from Brasov said he will grow a mustache as well.
It is also nice to see that a number of young guys will see their coaches participating as well such as Jan Bylesjö and Tibor Marton from MAC Budapest in an effort to raise awareness. MAC players Gergely Arany and Kristóf Schmál will be attempting to grow a mustache, just like Tamás Láday who is playing in Spokane of the WHL and Maté Garbacz from Vasas.
One of the more interesting hockey people who has been growing a mustache for Movember for the past couple of years is Attila Nagy who officiates in both the EBEL and the MOL League. This year the EBEL has designed special Movember shirts for the match officials to wear on November 2nd.
RULES
One does not simply grow a mustache, there are rules for Movember as well.
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Each person participating must start with a clean shaven face
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Each participant must grow and groom a mustache for the length of the month.
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No faking it, no beards, no goatees, no fake mustaches
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Use the power of the mustache to create conversations about mens health
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Each participant must conduct himself as a gentleman
Movember is not just for men, but for women as well. No women do not grow a mustache but they can encourage men to grow one. A lot of times men might think that a mustache does not look good on them or that it might turn girls off from them. Apparently in the last couple of years since the phenomenon has taken off women who are familiar with Movember are encouraged to compliment men on the mustache that they are growing or even a simple message or picture on facebook, twitter or any social media medium is enough.
“For obvious reasons I can’t grow a mustache but I will be changing my facebook cover photo to encourage guys to take part in Movember and grow a mustache for the cause,” said Slovakian team HC Osy’s goalie Ágnes Szigeti.
Whether you are a professional hockey player at the highest level, a fan at the highest level of the sport that is poetry on ice, or just someone that wants to be a part of a good cause then Movember is for you - men, women, boys and girls, its people helping people.
Words: Szabolcs Závodszky @Zavodszky
Photo: László Mudra, EBEL