http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/01/football-heading-brain-damage Also ar2 in a women's d3 game...away teamgirl gets hit in the face with the ball.. Goes down..ref talks to her...she says she is okay... Which is really stupid... Since they all say that Her mom.. Who I know from academic stuff says she had head problems last week! Few minutes later her and another player face plant in the mud after a foul by other player I go over just in case a brawl ensues... Both girls get up...I intervene .., let ref know they both should get checked out AwAy team girl gets checked out... Comes in later Home team girl doesn't come back...concussion...and they only had 11 players ..so they played with 10 for last 20 mins of gAme... Wtf why are some refs so Blaise about it A great ref out of Chicago is embroiled in a lawsuit pertaining to concussions! Get with the program people
While I do agree that head injuries shouldn't be treated lightly I still don't see why referees are so mixed up in it. Sure it is up to the referee to stop play and allow for treatment when an incident happens but it really should be up to the team/manager/coach to make the medical decision and look out for their players.
I'm not saying that there aren't (in some places) regulations that put this on the referee, I'm just saying that it's utter idiocy to involve the referee in such a decision.
This. Referees see players for the time period of one game. Noticing unusual behavior for them is unlikely. Most of us don't have medical training. Quit trying to add it to our responsibilities.
But the point is valid. I've sorta kinda shifted away from "You OK?" "Yeah" towards something more like "Coaches - they banged heads hard. Pull 'em off and you can put 'em back on if you think it's OK." And then there's the NFHS rule ...
In my limited HS career, when a trainer has been on site, i've never had a player re-enter after any type of head knock. Obviously, this isn't everywhere, but the schools are now very conscious of the head injury.
Fair play and thezza... The part about her mom being there should have been left out..my apologies... What sucked was the trainer stepped on... Then player said she is okay,, and ref said for trainer to go back I have adopted bubba's approach... So coach complains that the ref was worried about player head situation.. If he does. He comes across as an idiot
Had a blowout U19G game last weekend. About 5 minutes before halftime, one of the leading team's strikers went tumbling into a scrum by the goal post. She came up holding her head and looking dizzy. I ushered her to the sidelines. The coach (up 6-0) had used his substitutions for the half and wanted to sub for her. "No sir. You've used your subs, and she needs to be checked out." The girls mentioned that she just had concussion a week or so ago. I suggested that she get checked out because a second concussion can come easier. She came on in the second half and played defense - didn't come close to a header or a collision. Still would not have sent her in if I were a coach without medical training. I didn't feel like I could do any more, because she looked like she was OK after she sat for a while.
I would say the exact opposite is true in college. Trainers are scared of college coaches and keeping players off the field. Very few coaches seem to care about their players or understand how serious head injuries are. They are not getting the same instruction we are unfortunately.
Good luck with that. Coming soon to a courtroom near you... Granted not college (my days of that are over) but in HS you tell the coach you suspect it, it's on coach's ass now if something bad happens. Concussions aren't brain surgery FFS (wait, craptastic pun but, whatever). The CDC has the best course on it for referees and coaches (and parents). Pretty damned simple to "suspect and inform." In the last three years of HS play, and the last year in Club, never had a coach complain, ALWAYS had a coach thank or give me a thumbs up for it. The one time in HS a coach insisted on sending the player on later, I was on the far side of the field, AR forgot her number, player stumbles then grabs her head on the way across the field--we see that, AR realizes just before I did who she was--coach pulled her right away. Duh. Why should we be a little more proactive than simply "suspect and inform"? While a doctor should be the one making a Dx and medical eval, it does NOT take a doctor to detect a player isn't functioning on the field after a head injury, per the CDC guidelines. The coach who wants to win so damned bad he puts a player with a suspected concussion back in is fool. We who have no stake in the outcome of a match are not fools and we should damned well know better. Today in League cup play we had a U14 player get clocked hard. REF let her say she was fine and get up (holding her friggin' head). Never said anything to the coach (which prompted his AR, me, closest to the play to remind him of the guidelines). After a few minutes of watching her being sluggish, not quite knowing what was going on around her, unable to run let alone sprint (she was the fastest forward ever before that) I let REF know that information, who in turn let coach know and pulled her off. I was pissed with my partner because he's been in all the same damned concussion trainings I've been in but he's old school. The training says, suspect and inform but if the player is sent back on and it's clear you can still suspect concussion per the CDC guidelines you tell coach and have him send a different sub on. We had a discussion at the half, I showed my partner my notes and the friggin CDC guidelines. And still he let her come on in the second half and what happens? Boom, down she goes holding her head, completely unable to function. Coach finally carries her off. The lack of intervention is what makes this shit complicated, not being proactive. If we take the damned training treat this shit seriously and all agree to just take care of it, who loses? No one. Especially not a kid with the entire lives still in front of them.
Figo... Can I rep you 1000!times Rufus...did you read figo's post I send the trainer back and I am in deep doodoo
I don't know why some advocate that the referee play no role here. In most games that you work, the referee is the only independent and impartial person involved in the match. Reminding the coaches about the CDC guidelines, and I have to get a refresher every year, is both simple and in the best interest of every player's safety. From a legal perspective, I'd think more potential harm could come from letting a player on than could come from being cautious with a player who ends up being completely fine. As a coach, I have had a couple of players seem just a little off or complain about a headache or minor nausea or dizziness and I immediately sat them for the rest of the game. I didn't get a peep from a parent and luckily no one had anything serious. No single game is worth long term consequences. It just isn't a safe situation and I would honestly have no issue with a referee reminding me of that and/or refusing to let such a player on the field.
That's the problem though. The referee shouldn't have any legal ramifications for someone being put back on the field after an apparent injury. That's all on the people that send them back on. The idea is being pushed that the referee should be the gateway to allowing them to play which is nonsense. If a coach sends a player back on the field then it should be 100% on them. The referee should be immune from any wrongdoing here.
As referees, we wouldn't let a player on who showed any other sign of danger to himself or others. We also act on other things we see to root out potential problems. The referee is a gateway to all sorts of things that can happen on the field. It costs nothing to remind a coach that he or she has a player at risk. While it should be 100% on the coach, that isn't necessarily how things will actually play out should there be a more serious issue. Keep in mind that most coaches do not have medical training either and in the heat of a competitive situation may not be equipped make logical decisions. Maybe my perspective is colored from being fortunate to have at least one parent who was a physician on every team I've coached thus far, but it just seems such a simple thing. Seeing something that doesn't look right and then doing nothing about it doesn't feel right to me.
I disagree. Incident occurs. Ref believes possible head injury, sends player to get checked. Player gets checked. Player returns. There are two places where the ref does and should face liability. Removing the player and returning the player. Legally, you're held to a reasonable person standard. In reality, the best way is to think of it as DOGSO. Was the collision of a nature that it was obvious the player should get checked out? When the player returned, was it obvious he/she shouldn't return? If you follow that, you shouldn't have an issue. Safety is our number one priority. While the ref has no training to examine the player individually, we can't rely on the stupidity of others. If a player is returned to the field and it is obvious to the ref that that player should not return, the ref should not allow the player to return. Allowing a player to play when you believe they shouldn't violates your duty and rightfully opens you to liability.
We are doing a LOT of things as referee and continuing to monitor a specific player who has been cleared by the sideline staff who had at that point only ONE job to do is absurd. I sent them off and if they clear them to come back on well that is THEIR ass if they are ignoring a problem. Those of you who are arguing that it's the referees ongoing responsibility have no freaking idea what kind of liability that opens up. If that is true then basically any referee who lets any player EVER come back in after a questionable head injury is a fool
I was at one of my daughter's HS games this fall (spectating, not officiating) where one of her teammates knocked heads with an opponent pretty hard, and both went down holding their heads. Both players came off the field. This was a 9th grade game so there was no trainer present. Her parents were there and went over to the other side of the field to check her out. The opponent did not return to the game but several minutes later our player did. I told her father when he got back to the spectator's sideline that if I were the ref today I would not allow her to return. "She's fine" he assured me. After heading the ball a bit later she came off again and didn't go back in. That was her last game of the season. Last time I talked to her mother a couple weeks later she was still not back to attending high school full time, only 3 days a week and only a partial schedule.
I'm going to be very clear about the scenario I am envisioning. First, a player takes some sort of blow to the head significant enough that it requires a stoppage and for the player to be removed from the field. In a case like this, I would always make a note anyway. Second, I see the player come back onto the field of play and notice that something doesn't seem right about the player, before or sometime after coming on to the field. Third, I am on a match where there is not a doctor or trainer on site to evaluate such a situation. Personally, there is no way I could feel good about myself if I ignore it. I honestly do not see how anyone could be opening himself up to liability by being cautious. I can envision a scenario where doing nothing causes trouble. I am advocating that referees be aware of what is going on. Its another variable contributing to player safety, of which, everyone involved with the game should be aware. I can absolutely think of a situation where I would refuse to continue a game if a player who should not participate was not removed. I do not think a game would ever get to that point because I believe people tend to be concerned about the players and reasonable. Unfortunately, we cannot have a real trained medical professional at every game so if I was to see something that did not feel right, I have to look at the responsibility to look after a safe environment to intervene in some way. I am not looking for an excuse to pull players out of a game willy nilly. I do believe, however, that we are heading into a direction where the simple fact that we cannot have a doctor everywhere, will lead to absolute rules applying to head injuries which mandate players sit out. I think that is going to happen because there will be a case or as series of cases where people do not exercise common sense, similar to the events that lead us to now have to verify that goals are safely anchored.
I saw on one of the morning shows that seven high school football players across the country have died this year from head injuries. That is simply unacceptable. I know our sports are not the same, but we see plenty of head injuries and we need to be involved. Not necessarily in the decision making process, but by making informed recommendations in a way that will enable coaches and other team officials to act in the most responsible manner possible with respect to the safety of players.