Serious injury- when/ if to abandon?

Had an incident in an U15 match this week in which a player suffered a non contact but serious injury (in the act of scoring a very good goal). The goal put the home team 2-0 up. What protocols would colleagues suggest in terms of length of time to wait before abandoning the match with a player awaiting an ambulance lying on the pitch?
In this case, both teams were happy to wait a while for the ambulance to arrive and I had nowhere else I needed to be urgently, so we were able to complete the game after around a 40 minute delay. Incidentally, the home team coach went off and found a stretcher that looked like it was a Dad’s Army prop and they moved him off the pitch (his mum was there and gave the ok for that to happen- I wasn’t entirely happy with the idea personally). It turned out to be both a dislocation of the knee and a fractured tibia and that was with no contact from anyone else. Explains why I was a defender in my playing days, that shooting business is risky!

I've waited over an hour for an ambulance twice because I was free, the teams wanted it and the pitch was available. If those 3 things are in your favour wait...if 1 isn't, you've got no chance.

That all said if an ambulance is going to be getting on for 2 hours or longer then it becomes (potentially) a bit of a farce.

The usual issue is daylight, not a problem at this time of year but from October to March you'll struggle with any significant delay on an afternoon kick off unless there are floodlights.

Then there is player reaction, if it has been a really bad injury players from both teams often won't want to carry on. If neither team wants to restart I don't think a referee should try to persuade them otherwise. And for shared facilities there is also the issue of when is the next game on that pitch, if you have to be off by a certain time there will be limits.

I had one last season where a player collapsed with no one near her, and appeared to be unconscious for some time. Even though we were running out of daylight I stayed around for a while, but it was very evident that neither team really had any appetite to restart the game. I couldn't really go anywhere in any case as they'd used my coat that was in one of the dug outs to keep the player warm . She was fine though, and by the time I left the venue was back on her feet and being looked after by paramedics, and I believe was confirmed OK at the venue and not taken to hospital.

The FA gives some guidance on this in the FA referee community.

Abandoning a game due to injury
15 Nov 2023
Abandoning a game due to injury
In this article you will...

Understand what to do in the event of a serious injury.
Considerations you should make when deciding if a game should be abandoned.
Despite protecting player safety being our number 1 priority as a Referee there are a small number of occasions where games need to be abandoned due to injury. It's really important that match officials listen to those medical experts before making any decision.

When deciding if a game should be abandoned due to serious injury the Referee should consider...

The age group of the players - if this is a youth team game seeing one of their teammates injured will be upsetting for those players in the game. The players may not wish to continue with this match.
The time it takes for a player to be removed - What is the wait time of an ambulance? Is this an excessive delay, do you have floodlights or will the light deteriorate before the player can be removed.
Is this an evening game - Seek clarity with the home team if there is a cut off time for finishing the game or do they have a curfew on their floodlights.
Consult the technical staff and captains of both teams - are they giving you a flavour of what they want to do. Is there a mutual consensus between the two teams that can aid your decision making?
Top Tips

Take your time to check in on your own well-being and the well-being of your team. If any member of your team need further support following an abandonment due to serious injury click here for some guidance and signposting.
Set timescales - whilst it can be difficult to work out how long to wait for medical assistance to arrive, set rough timescales and communicate these to both teams.
What are the weather conditions? Do you need to take the players off the pitch whilst medical assistance and assessment is made, whilst you may need to remain on the pitch go and grab a jacket to stay warm during the stoppage.
Warm up - If the game does restart following a serious injury, don't forget to allow time for both teams and your team to warm up again.
You do not make a decision on the outcome of the game, this will be decided by the league / competition.
Once a game has been abandoned for a serious injury always contact your appointments officer.




Source: https://community.thefa.com/referees/b/fa-guidance/posts/abandoning-a-game-due-to-injury

It's happened to me on games I've been involved in twice in my time refereeing, both were Sunday league games with 10:30 kick off and adults, not children I hasten to add (as I feel it's important for the second one)

One, I was observing and it was about 10 minute in to the game - not even a foul, but two players kicking the ball in opposite directions and ones leg gave way. Ambulance service said it could be up to 6 hours, so me and the referee had a chat and agreed that abandoning was the best course of action. Funnily enough the opposition were 2-0 up and they lost the replay, cup quarter final, the beneficiaries went on to win the cup.

Second one was a little more complicated. I was refereeing. It was bottom of the league at home vs top of the league the bottom of the league team took the lead in the 90th minute. An away player asked me how long once the goal was scored and I told him just over 2 minutes. Almost immediately from the restart, again, not through a foul, a player dislocated his knee trying to block a shot. If I hadn't told a player from the losing team that there were 2 minutes left I'd have blown for full time, but I felt I couldn't do that. Obviously the last thing the home team with the injured player wanted was an abandonment, but again they were quoted a long wait time for an ambulance.
They said 'can't we just move him off the pitch'? He said he's ok with us moving him so we can finish the game.
I said back 'I'm absolutely not going to tell you you can move him off the pitch. I am however going to walk over and get a drink out my bag, so I might not see anything that happens in the next couple of minutes'. When I came back from getting my drink the player was just off the side of the pitch and we were able to continue.

At grass roots level, in the cold and/or wet, if I'm waiting for an ambulance and the player can't/doesn't want to move from the field then unless the ambulance is there within 20 mins - I'm abandoning the match. In my own experience it's the expected outcome and by that point the "football" becomes a secondary issue.
It makes little difference to me as the referee since I'm morally obligated to remain there until medical help/an ambulance arrives but there's no need to keep everyone else's day/evening hanging in the balance whilst I pontificate further.

Some on here may not agree with that but that's my take on it.

There is no cover all for this but generally depends on what is commonly expected locally and whether the leagues have any rules on guidelines.

Locally, in youth matches, if an injury requires an ambulance the general expectation is abandonment.

On the other, when I started refereeing >20 years ago the local semi professional league had a rule that games should never be abandoned for injury. Bizarrely, even if it was clear that the game would not be finished due to bad light it was expected to restart and play until it got dark at which point it would be abandoned for bad light! Not surprisingly this has been rescinded.

I was once observing a referee on a game where there was a very bad injury, as clear a broken leg as you will ever see, and it came from a very bad challenge that unfortunately the referee missed. The referee on the next pitch was a paramedic so he stopped his game on hearing the player's prolonged screams to come and deal with it. To my astonishment at the time the referee I was observing went and took over on the next pitch, the game I was observing on was abandoned by default because the referee had gone to do another game.

I made myself useful to go and wait by the venue entrance to guide the ambulance where to go as it was a multi-pitch venue. That made for an interesting observation report I had to write

RefereeX said:

They said 'can't we just move him off the pitch'? He said he's ok with us moving him so we can finish the game.

Click to expand...

In this scenario you aren't a medical expert so if their physio or person who has the plasters in a bag asks to do this, then why not just give them the nod, obviously caveat it with "I am not a medical expert, but if you deem it safe to do so. Then removing the player from the pitch would make it okay to restart the match".