Question Number: 17211

Law 4 - Players Equipment 10/9/2007

RE: Select to High School Under 15

Franco of Bloomington, USA asks...

This question is a follow up to question 17138

I was in an amusement park one day and a kid about 10 years old was floating on a raft not doing anything else except eating a hot dog, he choked to death! The area had signs that read no food, candy, drink ,but the life guards decided to ignore it.

Kids sometimes put so much gum in their mouth its no longer the size of a stick of gum and besides their air passages are smaller to begin with. I would imagine that most pediatricians would say to not let kids play sports with gum in their mouth and drinking is the way to keep you from dry mouth. That if your mouth becomes dry then thats the first sign of dehydration and you need to drink.

I have never told anyone to remove their gum as a referee, most of the time I never notice it, but I have certainly told my kids that I coached that were U12 or younger they cannot chew gum during games or practice and YES I DID HAVE A KID GET CHOKED ON GUM and that's why I made that policy, it was VERY SCARY. I had to stop during practice and eventually the kid got it down, I felt helpless and both of us (the kid and I) were scared. For the older kids I tell them I wish they would not chew gum and I share my story, but I don't make it mandatory.

This website has stated many times on here that safety is at the discretion and under the authority of the referee and if that referee decides no gum chewing how can you dispute this ref's decision about safety. Its not the end of the world if they can't chew gum and its not going to cause them to loose the match or a serious health effect. We worry about toe cleats and some refs and leagues don't allow them, when I have never personally seen anyone hurt from toe cleats and that is not documented in FIFA or anywhere either that I have seen, so why is this ref's concern about a choking hazard so ridiculous and an abuse of authority?

So if you were at this ref's games, as an AR, fan, player, coach, or ref evaluator would you argue, tell him he is wrong, give him a poor rating, and that he has abused his authority, taken safety way too far or would you abide by his authority and respect his opinion?

Franco

Answer provided by Referee Keith Contarino

Hmmmm Have to admit this never crossed my mind. Will have to think about it. As to the referee, I would, of course, abide by his decision. His game and what is safe for that game is up to him.

Answer provided by Referee Richard Dawson

I coach as well, no kids chew gum while we practice or play. Water every where. I onced refereed a match where the player was chewing tobbaco and spitting it on the field. There was no repeat occurance! I have no issue with a referee saying no gum. I would prefer he did! If it was a youth match *littles *I would insist they did not and make them remove it before the match! Cheers

The following questions were asked as a follow up to the above question...

See Question: 17447