thereby increasing the likelihood that an opponent 39 s grip on the facemask will be released the facemask can be releasably mounted on the helmet so that if the grip is not released the portion of the facemask being grasped will then 34 break away 34 from the helmet the force required to open up the two part facemask is less than the force required to cause one or both parts of the facemask to be detached from the helmet the present invention can be used with helmets for sports such as football ice hockey lacrosse or other contact collision sports application_number US 83593097 A description referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are designated by like numerals fig1 shows a perspective view of a football helmet designated generally by numeral 5 having a facemask 10 in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention facemask 10 is a two part facemask having right piece 12 and left piece 14 each piece 12 14 has respective upper and lower bars 12u 12l 14u and 14l each piece 12 14 is releasably attached to the helmet 5 by a leaf spring attachment 16 fig4 the upper and lower bars 12u 12l and 14u 14l are formed as respective unitary members 12 14 and have respective resilient biasing portions 18 20 integrally formed therein alternatively the resilient biasing portions may be separately formed and attached to members 12 and 14 fig2 and 3 show a detail of the resilient biasing member 20 for left piece 14 resilient biasing member 18 is similar to member 20 but symmetrically configured resilient biasing member 20 has one side 22 which is smooth.