Where I am concussion training (completed online) is mandatory for every coach and official, but only required to be completed every 3 years.
Yes, exactly. Referees texting during the game, and the number of refs changing throughout? Extremely amateurish, even for amateurs.
Chicago suburbs. After the game Tuesday night I made the same comment to my wife about the lack of quality we have seen lately and both refs in question were 40+ so you would assume they have had plenty of experience. The original post concerned a local tournament we have never been to before. Monday morning I found out my boss also had a son at the tournament as I relayed the horror story. He was surprised as his club attends every year and said there is always a long wait list to get in as it is a great tournament. I am hoping we just caught a bad ref, first game of the day but we will not be going back to the tournament. The second case was a NISL game in a fairly remote suburb. When we are closer to the core of Chicagoland our refs are generally good, hopefully this was a case of the club having to assign someone willing to do a weeknight, remote game during the peak of girls HS season.
We had a recent thread where several of the participants on this forum admitted to not starting until well after 40. Some of us bank on those false assumptions.
Let me say it again. We are NOT making a "medical diagnosis." We have a legal responsibility, however, in my state and many others, to not let them continue to play if they have the generally recognized symptoms of a concussion. You do not have to be a doctor to figure out that a player, who has just banged heads with an opponent, and who appears dazed or who gets up and then falls down again has the symptoms of a concussion. A formal diagnosis and treatment plan, including return to participation, is up to an appropriate healthcare professional, however your state defines that term. And, whether we like it or not, that is what it "has come down to" in some/many states, by law.
It still puts the onus on the referee to make the call. We live in a litigious society, by involving the referees in the decision, you open them up to frivolous and costly lawsuits.
The Ohio law specifically shield referees from lawsuits provided that you're not being grossly negligent.
And when you are included in the law suit for being "grossly negligent" YOU get to hire an attorney and try to prove you were not. Without very specific law changes (like blood, we see blood, player is off the field) not only is this a huge mess we will now be accused of favoring the other team by keeping a player off the field because we "believe" the player may be concussed. The alternative to have some kind of board certified concussion specialist at every match also isn't doable. In the vast majority of games there is no issue. When there is a possible head injury the vast majority of times everyone acts responsibly. This is growing in awareness and will get better. Blood used to not be a concern. Awareness was raised and now it is a big concern and no one resists a player being made to take care of blood or bleeding. We will get there with concussions, just right now in my opinion is the painful transition where some are still of the opinion its no big deal, let them play.
I'm well aware of the Ohio Law since I live just across the river. As camconcay pointed out though, they always leave that loophole. Famous saying is that the only people that get selected for jury duty are those too stupid to get out of jury duty, people can be convinced of a lot. Especially when an injured child is in the works.
Do you get to decide what grossly negligent is, or is it litigated? If ohio law awards you substantial damages for a frivolous lawsuit that might mean something.
This is why you don't do games where there is no liability insurance. If you are sued over a USSF game, the insurance company takes care of the legal costs and liability.
That' actually only partial solace. The insurance company may chose to settle rather that fully support you because it is cheaper. That leaves you with a negligence rap on your record for the future. I was in a litigation about 20 years ago where the insurance company settled rather than support my company. We sued our own insurance company and won. It cost our company about twice what we sued for. Makes me a fan of the law in England where the loser pays all costs.
I don't think anyone thought to ask this question yet, so.... Were any of these "referees" wearing a 2014 USSF Badge? i.e. is this an unaffiliated (to USSF) league?
Can someone elaborate on how the ref should handle these situations. Player takes a knock to the head and goes down, or takes a fall and is seen to hit head on the ground. CR immediately blows the whistle - either for foul or just to stop play - and waves on coach and/or trainer. As a CR, having waved on the coach in a standard situation, I might stay in the vicinity but wouldn't consider it mandatory to do so. Is the procedure for that different if it's a potential concussion situation? If the CR may need to trump the coach's determination, wouldn't it be necessary to hear what is asked and the responses (and continue to observe the player's physical reactions, such as eye movements)? I can think of some responses that would be easy potential concussion identifiers but most of the time the symptoms are not so obvious and/or much more gray, as well as a risk that a groggy player may not answer completely truthfully if he knows that it might mean being pulled from the game. And, what if the coach or trainer doesn't even ask the right questions? Should the CR intervene and ask questions of his own? If a coach (or player) have lost priorities, it makes a lot of sense that a neutral like the referee might step in to restore order, but it does seem a very difficult position to be placed in.
From a strictly Laws of the Game perspective, the player will need to leave the field, since you called on the civilians. Their return is up to their coach. From a legal perspective, and this is only necessarily the right answer in our state, the referee, having the knowledge gained during the annual training on the symptoms of concussion, will determined whether the player MIGHT have suffered a concussion. At that point, the referee will need to tell the coach that the player MAY have suffered a concussion. "Coach, I know It seems obvious, but she may have suffered a concussion, so she can't return to play today." Based on the high school game reports that I read last fall, I would expect that only one or two percent of possibly concussed players will attempt to return in the same game. I don't recall any real unpleasantness reported over the referee not allowing a player to return. I'd like to think that the referee pointing out what they saw will almost always get the coach to do the right thing, rather than thinking strictly about the wins and losses stuff. Of course, a player who is now 'dazed' or 'confused' is not likely to be a significant contributor to the team.
If you're unsure of your state's approach, here's a starting point - pick your state, read the summary and then click for add'l details..... http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/infographics/37concussion_map.html
X 1000. Do this. Feel good about it. Don't make it too complicated. Aside from the absurdity of living one's life in constant fear of litigation, the main thing we can do as refs is prevent a child from having reinjury in the same game. A player goes down after head knocks from ground or a player, or gets beaned when they were not expecting. They do anything other than get right up and are immediately unimpaired, and you stop play and bring coach on. As they go off, you tell the coach -" hey- she's not coming back in today, right?" It doesn't have to be any more involved than that.
As the referee you may do what YOU think is best. At most of the matches most of us do there is no trainer, doctor, whatever and therefore there is no real pressure to keep the "star" on the field to produce an event like at very high or professional/televised matches. Of course at those levels there are plenty of support staff on hand. We know the laws and procedures FAR better than 99+% of coaches and parents so just tell the coach said player can not return until they have an OK from a professional. If they produce a "professional" then get the OK from them and if the player is the LEAST bit off in YOUR opinion send them to be checked again and again. If the idiots send them back in and you are not comfortable with it abandon the match. If the match is high level enough there will be proper professionals on hand, if not we are the impartial person and hopefully err on the side of player health and safety.
But know your ROC. AYSO, for example, will not accept same-day clearance once concussion symptoms have been seen. The player is done for the day. Period. Not even the Surgeon General can authorize the kid to come back on the field. (I don't know the specific genesis of that requirement, but I suspect it is to avoid the referee having to decide if the guy on the touch line saying he's a doctor really is.)
That and, from what I've heard, the most reliable tests for concussion need 24 hours of down time to determine if symptoms have developed/persisted.
Sorry - of course if your ROC say no return then by all means no return. I was only trying to say regardless of ROC you can be the voice of reason and not allow it. As I mentioned elsewhere, head injuries are gaining in recognition just as blood did in the past. We will get there and this is the transition that can be difficult at first. Main thing is to focus on safety as we all gain awareness that even small bumps can be bad, especially since it is proven that they are cumulative.