Question Number: 24693

Law 5 - The Referee 3/15/2011

RE: High School

Jared Sperling of Corpus Christi, TX USA asks...

We had a situation come up during a High School Boys Varsity game the other night that I wanted to get your opinion about. In the 23rd minute of the 1st half, a player takes the ball full in the face bloodying his nose. We stop play, check on the player and remove him for communicable disease reasons to clean his face, hands & jerseys. As the Center was checking on the player, the player coughed and a few spots of blood got on the Center's jersey. He realized this at the time, but did not want to stop the game to change jerseys. He asked me about it at Halftime, and we agreed to go ahead a change jerseys for the second half, but I had never run into that situation before, so I didn't really know how to answer his question. For players, we usually require them to immediately leave the field for any amount of blood, but I can't find anything to cover the Referees. For the few spots he had on him, I believe it was OK, but if there had been noticeable blood on his jerseys, I would recommend stopping the game to change jerseys. What is your opinion?

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Jared
Rule 18 would have to apply here. The referee is not obliged under the Laws to remove his jersey as he is unlikely to come in contact with any player so its really a matter for himself. However it is always a good idea to follow the laws as they apply to players and certainly if I had any doubt I would not hesitate in changing.
It does raise another point about the CR's close proximity to the player and perhaps in future he needs to keep a 'safe' distance, allowing the medic to deal with blood injuries.

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Common sense will dictate whether to stop the match and deal immediately with a drop of dried blood or wait until half-time.

Referees have the power to stop the clock in high school (add time under TLOG), however, and interrupting the match to clean or change jerseys usually presents no issues to the players. The risk of infection (to the referee or others) may be low, but with so little effort needed to eliminate the risk, IMO, there is no reason to wait with excessive amounts of blood.