A&H

Abandonment

colindotcom

colindotcom

Active Member
I had to abandon my game today. Goalkeeper received two separate blows to the head in the space of 20 minutes. His manager cleared to to carry on the 1st time, I wasn't entirely comfortable with him carrying on. The 2nd time he was down and stayed down leading to an ambulance being called.
My question is, do we have any right to not allow players, in this circumstance, to continue?
I know it's all about player safety, but can we tell managers that in our opinion they don't seem fit to continue?
 
The Referee Store
colindotcom said:
I had to abandon my game today. Goalkeeper received two separate blows to the head in the space of 20 minutes. His manager cleared to to carry on the 1st time, I wasn't entirely comfortable with him carrying on. The 2nd time he was down and stayed down leading to an ambulance being called.
My question is, do we have any right to not allow players, in this circumstance, to continue?
I know it's all about player safety, but can we tell managers that in our opinion they don't seem fit to continue?
Click to expand...
You're not a doctor (even if you are!) on the pitch - the Laws are pretty clear that injury as a result of a match is not our responsibility. You can't force them not to play.
Hopefully the player involved is alright.
 
JBeil said:
You're not a doctor (even if you are!) on the pitch - the Laws are pretty clear that injury as a result of a match is not our responsibility. You can't force them not to play.
Hopefully the player involved is alright.
Click to expand...
Honestly I don't like the term "you are not a doctor". It's commonly used for the referees and and is misleading in the way that it shirks them of their responsibilities.
I am also not sure which clear law you refer to that injuries re not our responsibility. It is. We don't necessarily need to attend to the injury but the injured player is our responsibility.
Even though we are not doctors the law expects us to assess the seriousness of an injury (stop play or not). Much of this is down to common sense and life experience.

Having said that and in response to the OP, it depends on the level of your discomfort and level of the game. You have to be there. From your description I would have made it clear to the manager that I am not comfortable for the keeper to come back but I would not have prevented it.
Yes you do have the power to stop a player from playing if you think it is not safe to do so. The laws are not explicit, but the referee can stop play (or not restart it) and ask for an injured player to be removed off the field of play for treatment. That player can only return with permission from the referee and you are not obliged to give that permission.

To give you an example at grassroots if a player with a clear dislocated shoulder or elbow wants to return to the game, I won't give them permission.
 
As above but I'd also add that your presence as the referee is dependent upon your own feelings. If you're not comfortable with continuing to officiate in that particular game owing to a personal safety concern then you've as much right to feel the same way about anybody else there - be it player, coach or even a spectator if it comes to it.
You can't determine whether or not a player is medically fit to continue in instances like this but you can insist that you're not prepared to continue refereeing whilst they remain on the field. Easier said than done (like most advice on here) but imagine the worst case scenario and cover your own ar5e - you can bet nobody else there will ... ;)
 
Its a tricky one, and a big problem is concussion often doesn't show itself at the time.

I remember playing a game where our left back took an almighty clattering in an aerial challenge. He got back up and carried on, then started wittering on about how his wife was going to kill him as he would be late for their night out. I'm one of his best mates and knew they had gone out the night before for their anniversary and by this time alarm bells were ringing. Had to get my fellow centre half to get him to sit down whilst I got the referee's attention to get the game stopped. A night in the Whittington ensued for him where it was confirmed he had pretty severe concussion.

For referees it is impossible, you have to reply on the club to make the right decision. Jamie (my team mate in this situation) looked perfectly with it, and a lot of people thought I was over reacting, but I knew something was badly wrong. As a referee you just won't have that inside information.
 
Tough call as player and manager said they were fine. Keeper being replaced isn’t an abandoned game scenario on its own, but if an ambulance is called…….yep. Call it off.

Had the second blow not happened then all would have been well?
 
Most of the time the player will want to carry on which is normal. I guess that sometimes we have to make the decision and insist they are substituted. It’s better they go off and in ten mins feel fine that play on and in ten mins be even worse
 
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