The Ref Stop

Leave field or not?

arbitre

arbitre

Active Member
Defender has head injury in own penalty area, play is already stopped for a goal kick. Referee seeing the injured player calls on the trainer, who makes his way towards the penalty area. The player says to the referee he is fine and does not need the trainer. The referee stops the trainer when he is about 10 yards from the penalty area and the trainer leaves the field without getting near the injured player.
What does the referee do with the injured player - is he allowed to remain on the field or must he leave the field as he would have done if he had received treatment?
 
The Ref Stop
No, he still needs to go off. It is once the referee has authorised treatment that he needs to leave.
 
Common sense and guidance says the player should leave the field and be attended to, to make sure they do not have a head injury.
And, having called on the trainer, the ref should probably follow through.

However, if the referee is confident about the player, and that he/she doesn't have an injury, and depending on the context, of course, the referee can decide to carry on and send the trainer away. It doesn't play that well though. And wouldn't wash at higher levels.
 
I believe that once you have called the trainer/physio onto the field of play, the player has to leave regardless of whether they receive treatment or not. One reason why you should ask the player if they need/want treatment before beckoning them on.
 
You have to think about why this was introduced in the first place. It was to deter players from deliberately time-wasting by feigning injury and receiving treatment on the pitch. Hence the reason why we've had the change this season for keeping players on the pitch after treatment, where there may be a genuine injury after a sanctionable offence, and preventing the offending team taking a man advantage for a period of time.

For a situation where a player doesn't want treatment, he clearly is not attempting to waste time. So as Sangria has said, use common sense. If the physio has made his way onto the field of play and the player clearly states he doesn't want treatment, then there is no harm in waving off the physio, as long as he has not approached the player and began assessing the injury. This would be unfair, in my eyes, if you sent a player to the sidelines under such a scenario where his team were defending a corner/attacking free kick, etc, and he hadn't been treated or looked at by a physio.

You may say, well what about head injuries. Err on the side of caution. I'd likely in all cases insist the physio comes on to assess the player, if he is down and is hesitating on whether he needs treatment or not.
 
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Hi
For me on a head injury he gets assessed by the physio particularly when he has been called on. Players can say they are okay yet not so. Once he leaves it is up to the team then to decide he is fit enough to continue. That takes any focus away from the referee should anything untoward happen with the player afterwards ie the ref should have insisted he got looked at it with a head injury etc etc. On a leg knock, twist or cramp I would let it slide at lower levels.
 
If the player jumps up rubbing his head and says to me "i'm ok ref" i will play on.. If the player is on the ground holding his head i will call on the trainer for treatment saying to the player " Stay down, let's get that looked at".... and the player will go off every time. Then i can see he is ok by the way he walks off and when i allow him back on i can check him to see if he is fit for play. Made a previous post about player holding his head i told him to stay down to get it looked at when the trainer come on and the player took his hand off his head there was blood everywhere, so as the trainer was there he got immediate treatment and yes he went off ...... came back on 5 minutes later bandaged up he looked quite alert so i let him play... ten minutes later he staggered off......... so a bad knock to the head with lots blood ...Should a player be allowed to carry on playing ??? learnt my lesson with that one i will have second thoughts in future.
 
LotG p.47:
if the referee has authorised the doctors and /or stretcher bearers to enter
the field of play, the player must leave on a stretcher or on foot. A player who
does not comply, must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour
Click to expand...
So no, common sense doesn't come into it - once you've signalled the physio to come on, the player has to go off, even if no treatment is administered (or for that matter, even if the physio doesn't come onto the field of play).

The LotG aren't unfair for making the player go off, it's just the referee's error for calling the physio on too quickly.
 
I believe that the preferred procedure is that, except for serious injuries (especially head injuries) where the referee decides the player needs immediate attention, the referee should ask the player if he wants attention or not. If the player says he does then the referee should signal for the medical staff to enter the field of play. But as far as I'm aware whether the ref has asked the player or not (as in the case of an injury requiring immediate attention) and assuming the injury was not caused by a challenge leading to a card of either colour, once medical attention had been summoned the player must leave the field of play.

The old wording was much clearer on this, stating as follows:
after questioning the injured player, the referee may authorise one, or at most two doctors, to enter the feld of play to assess the injury and arrange the player’s safe and swift removal from the feld of play
[...] as soon as the referee has authorised the doctors to enter the feld of play, the player must leave the feld of play, either on a stretcher or on foot
Click to expand...

While I don't think the new laws were intended to change this in any significant fashion, the only similar wording in the latest edition is:
if the referee has authorised the doctors and /or stretcher bearers to enter the field of play, the player must leave on a stretcher or on foot
Click to expand...

For some reason, the section about questioning the player and summoning the medical staff has been removed which for me, makes the overall process less clear.
 
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...but if the referee has authorised the medical team to enter the field of play, but then sends them back, they are no longer authorised, right? So, then the player does not have to leave...? ;)
 
My main concern is the safety of the player IF I THINK that he needs attention then i will insist he needs attention and i will tell him so, by saying " stay down, it needs looking at" if he jumps up(depending on injury) i will not restart play till he is looked at, then regardless.... off he goes to the bye line and i will allow him on once i have checked him to see if he is fit enough...... do not need to show yellow because i will make sure he gets the attention he needs.....
 
I had one on Sunday - was I right to do this?:

Helter-skelter game played in good spirit, at 100 miles an hour, top of the table U16s league game. 1-1 one min to half time, yellow keeper runs out to hoof a long ball clear. Ball goes back into blues half, blues bring ball forward, yellow commits foul just inside their half, I blow for free kick. Calls of "ref, ref" and I spot yellow keeper lying on floor. "It's my knee, the one I injured before. When I went to kick the ball I did something to it" He was obviously in some discomfort.

Coach/physio comes on, pours some water on it, tells him to get up and get on with it, which he eventually does.

Now blues have a free kick, just inside opposition half, strong wind behind them. Should I have made keeper go off as trainer had been on? I didn't, just didn't seem right to do so. No one complained.

Long range shot, keeper catches ball, kicks it up field, I blow for half time. Everyone happy, common sense prevailed, but were laws breached?
 
The other thing to think about is credibility if you have stopped play for treatment. If I'm concerned enough to stop play for an injured player then the physio is getting called on whether the player wants it or not, otherwise there is a real risk of players just going down to stop a promising attack or just to waste time.
 
Yeah, keeper is a special case - you should never let play restart if either team doesn't have a designated keeper on the pitch.
 
santa sangria said:
...but if the referee has authorised the medical team to enter the field of play, but then sends them back, they are no longer authorised, right? So, then the player does not have to leave...? ;)
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if you're joking but just in case you're not - no, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, either logically or grammatically. The meaning of the wording is quite clear. Once the medical staff have been authorised to enter the field, the player must leave. Also, if you go against that you are totally negating the reason why this provision is there in the first place. As the IFAB explains:
this requirement was introduced because players often unsportingly used an injury to delay the restart for tactical reasons.
Click to expand...
By allowing a player to go down claiming injury, waiting for the medical staff to come on and then jumping back up before getting attention, dismissing the medical staff and allowing the player to stay on the field, you are opening yourself up to exactly the kind of time-wasting tactics that were becoming so prevalent before the law was altered to prevent it.
 
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Just to add to everything else.

With head injuries, call the coach immediately and make sure they leave the field. In mens, and kids, I have seen more than a few players say "i'm good" only to stand up and wobble about.

Those extra few seconds walking to the touchline often give the players time to decide whether the 'she'll be right' attitude will or won't work.
 
Common sense allows you to bend the laws, not break them. The laws state, in black and white, that once the trainer is called on the player must leave.
santa sangria said:
...but if the referee has authorised the medical team to enter the field of play, but then sends them back, they are no longer authorised, right? So, then the player does not have to leave...? ;)
Click to expand...
Nice try, but no.
 
I am getting confused about this, not from the grass roots level, but from a league 1 perspective. There has now been a number of incidents when the player has received treatment and the ref has allowed him to stay on the pitch. The first time that I saw it I thought that it was simply a mistake by the ref on the day, but I have now seen it happen on two different occasions. I doubted myself as I thought that maybe the rules have changed and I have missed it
 
markieg said:
I am getting confused about this, not from the grass roots level, but from a league 1 perspective. There has now been a number of incidents when the player has received treatment and the ref has allowed him to stay on the pitch. The first time that I saw it I thought that it was simply a mistake by the ref on the day, but I have now seen it happen on two different occasions. I doubted myself as I thought that maybe the rules have changed and I have missed it
Click to expand...
You don't describe the exact circumstances but yes, the law has changed. A player who had been injured by a challenge which results in a card for the perpetrator, does not have to leave the field if the treatment/assessment can be completed quickly.
 
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