About 70 mins into the game yesterday, with the ball out of play for a throw in to the opposition, red centre half goes down with cramp clutching his calf. From the reaction of his team mates. it looks like this is not unusual. One of his team mates straight away grabs his leg to help him stretch it. Opposition wait without complaint to take the throw in for the (no more than) 20 - 30 seconds or so it takes the centre half to get to his feet again. No trainer on the field. I'm half thinking is this treatment and should I make him leave the field of play, but frankly the common sense voice in my head (and yes I know that can be dangerous) says just get on with it, which everyone does with no fuss. Five minutes later, the same player is predictably down with cramp again, this time in much more pain. I'm now thinking again about what I'll need to do, particularly if the delay is more lengthy, but don't have to make a decision as he decides enough is enough and is substituted. Clearly trainer on, player off, but interested in thoughts on player on player help, particularly as in the first case delay was little more than the equivalent of a player being slow to get up after a challenge and then being helped up by a team mate.
Cramp
- Thread starter Quarryref
- Start date
... Which is my point. So letter of the law says he either has to be carted off to receive treatment, which with cramp probably means half carried off, or we play on and don't wait for him as if he was doing his shoelace up because he is not seriously injured and stretching a leg isn't treatment (?). Never seen either at any level, and sure I've seen fellow players doing the stretching in major cup finals and everyone waiting. So is this case where common sense trumps letter of the law ?