RateTheRef

Quote from: RCG on Thu 08 Dec 2022 07:04

My point exactly. There is no way he should have continued without proper assessment, which cannot be done at pitchside

Agreed.  It has happened at least twice during the World Cup, both in games involving England.  Too often players with head injuries are being allowed to stay on the FOP only to be removed a few minutes later when it becomes clear that they should not continue, simply because of the substitution Laws.  Somewhere down the line an avoidable tragedy will occur as a result.  Until the Laws change, medical staff need to be more responsible and get players off.

Absolutely nothing the referees can do about it though.  If the physio / doctor says the player is OK to continue they can't overrule that, however much they might think the player isn't right.

Back when I was playing a team mate had a nasty clash of heads with an opponent.  We didn't have a physio (Sunday league) but I'd done basic first aid as part of the coaching course, so I checked him over and he seemed OK.  10 minutes later he started telling me that his wife was going to kill him as he was going to be late for the party that night, unfortunately the party was the one that he had gone to the night before.  At that point all kinds of alarm bells were ringing and I insisted he went off and he was taken straight to the closest hospital.  Just shows how a proper assessment is needed though, as players can look and seem OK at first only to then suffer a reaction later.