Question Number: 28629

Law 18 - Common Sense 7/31/2014

RE: rec Adult

alex of richmond hill, ontario canada asks...

A referee sees a player (14 years old boy) in injured and should not be playing. However the injured player insists on playing and his coach for whatever reason let the player stay on the field. When can the referee insists the player to be substituted (for the sake of safety) as I cannot remember anything in LOTG that authorise the referee to do that?

Answer provided by Referee Dennis Wickham

Law 5 permits the referee to have any injured player removed from the field for treatment. He cannot compel a substitution. But, if the coach seeks to reenter the player, and the referee is convinced that the player is still injured, then the referee can again direct the player leave the field for treatment.

In youth matches, the safety of the player has to be the referees primary concern. Eventually, the coach will tire of playing short.

Answer provided by Referee Joe McHugh

Hi Alex
Always a difficult position for a referee to be in. In the case of an injured player the referee is entitled under Law 5 to stops the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensures that he is removed from the field of play. An injured player may only return to the field of play after the match has restarted.
Now when the player returns, which the referee must allow at a stoppage, the referee is then forced to make a call if he notes that the player is still injured. The referee is not medically qualified so again all he can do is stop the game for treatment to the player when it is apparent that the injury is seriously affecting the player. Remember that the request by the team for the player to return is its decision that the player is fit to continue and that if the player declines treatment that is his decision.
I have seen teams, having used all its substitutions, keep injured players on the field of play and the players doing very little. I recall one team putting an injured player into goal and the goalkeeper played outfield. No concern of mine as referee and one that I did not have to deal with.
I also recall stopping an underage game four times for an injured player that the coach refused to substitute. Sometimes it is easier at underage as the player will accept the referee's intervention whereas an adult may dismiss the referee's concern. Eventually common sense prevailed, encouraged by my advice to the coach, shouts from parents, opponents that the player needed to be substituted. I simply managed the situation as per the Laws.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

Hi again Alex,

good to see you still using the site.

People just do stupid things, some knowingly, others blithely unaware of the consequences or repercussions of their actions. We can only hope the young athlete is going to be ok in the long term! Sometimes and with something's fate just plays its part! Referees can not stop a player from playing and having their knee give out, the ankle rollover, the shins splints too agonizing! We do not control physics where big players crush a smaller ones in a legal tackle nor can we stop the momentum of irresistible forces from breaking them selves on the immovable objects or vice versa. What we CAN do is pay attention!


While a referee has no authority in law to demand a substitution, as my colleagues' point out, we can use our LAW 5 mandate to make decisions, in the opinion of the referee, to consider an injury serious or not! I am fortunate in that I have background training as an EMT so I can make a public appeal using this information to make a very strong case in the best interest of the child.


Players with knocks and bruises, strains and cramps will be hindered but can continue in limited fashion but if they hobble about in OBVIOUS pain, in OBVIOUS discomfort then one should OBVIOUSLY intervene. If a referee permits those in OBVIOUS difficulty to play without thinking about possible danger then that referee is missing his or her crucial duty to the safety of the player!


Unfortunately I have witnessed several severe injuries during the course of some 40 plus years refereeing. The PREVENTIVE measures I now have in place reflect the severity of the incidents previously allowed. If a player actually loses consciousness I absolutely refuse to permit the player back on without a QUALIFIED doctor or medical practitioner there to ok it. Why? Because In my opinion it is a SERIOUS INJURY and ONLY one who is qualified to tell me it is not makes it not serious!


I refereed a match where two powerful young ladies went up to head a ball, collided and lay stunned upon the ground. Dazed, incoherent for a bit they were helped off the field to the usual smattering of applause for taking the knock and getting back up. One of the two returned a short time later! Instead of being taken for x-rays and a check up, the old, 'Just shake it off!' by the coach and the convincing appeal by the player, 'I just want to play! I am Ok'! adage was employed .The young lady took a running jump high up to head out a long clearing ball that had travelled some 40 or so yards. Shortly there after she felt ill, ran off the field threw up and collapsed by the bleachers.She suffered serious brain trauma via a subdural hematoma/concussion that wiped her long memory among other things including how to talk.


Now as a referee I DID NOTHING WRONG but as a person, armed with limited medical knowledge. I knew she had no business playing because as a COACH I REFUSE to allow ANY of my players with a head injury to even practise without a doctor certificate clearing them of any possible injury especially if rendered unconscious. WE can not EXPECT people to do the right thing just because we think they should. We can do the right thing as we believe it to be by PERSONALLY checking the incoming player for after effects and if we are not satisfied send them off to be treated over and over if need be! I harp on the head injury because with most drama incidents, not like a definite snap of a broken bone, the visual of a blood running open wound, the pop of the knee or grating sound of an inflamed tendon, this injury is deceptive!.

Yup you MIGHT be over cautious and yup someone or a group of someone's will try to say your unfair persecution of trying prevent an important player from continued playing is a favour to the opposition amid cries of, 'Your no doctor to say he can not play!' To which I might reply, Yup I am NOT an doctor which is why I will err on the side of safety! Not because I know everything but because I do not!

Cheers
LAW 5 THE REFERE
• stops, suspends or abandons the match because of outside
interference of any kind
• stops the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensures
that he is removed from the field of play. An injured player may only return
to the field of play after the match has restarted
• allows play to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in his
opinion, only slightly injured
• ensures that any player bleeding from a wound leaves the field of play. The
player may only return on receiving a signal from the referee, who must be
satisfied that the bleeding has stopped

Injured players
The referee must adhere to the following procedure when dealing with injured
players:
• play is allowed to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in the
opinion of the referee, only slightly injured
• play is stopped if, in the opinion of the referee, a player is seriously injured
• after questioning the injured player, the referee may authorise one, or at
most two doctors, to enter the field of play to assess the injury and arrange
the player's safe and swift removal from the field of play
• stretcher-bearers should only enter the field of play with a stretcher
following a signal from the referee
• the referee must ensure an injured player is safely removed from the field of
play
• a player is not allowed to receive treatment on the field of play
• any player bleeding from a wound must leave the field of play. He may not
return until the referee is satisfied that the bleeding has stopped. A player is
not permitted to wear clothing with blood on it
• as soon as the referee has authorised the doctors to enter the field of play,
the player must leave the field of play, either on a stretcher or on foot. If a
player does not comply, he must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour
• an injured player may only return to the field of play after the match has
restarted
• when the ball is in play, an injured player must re-enter the field of play
from the touch line. When the ball is out of play, the injured player may re-enter from any of the boundary lines
• irrespective of whether the ball is in play or not, only the referee is
authorised to allow an injured player to re-enter the field of play
• the referee may give permission for an injured player to return to the field
of play if an assistant referee or the fourth official verifies that the player is
ready