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Originally Posted by SmokeEater
I recently had a player and his mother come up to me before a scrimmage to show me these new earings he had on. Well at least I never seen them before, They were called safety studs .... The posts on the back were completely enclosed by a cover so the earing couldn't come out of the ear or pierce the players neck or scratch any other player. I showed my partner, talked to both coaches and got the mother to sign off on liability and let the kid play in the scrim. I personally have never seen any basketball player get hurt from earings. Football is another matter had a kid get a hoop ripped out of his ear when his helmet got ripped off his head.
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SmokeEater:
Nothing you did before the start of the scrimmage was correct. NFHS rules strictly prohibit the wearin of jewelry. That said, having the player's mother sign off regarding liability is meaningless in a court of law for the following reasons: 1) You and your partner as the game officials, from a legal standpoint, are the rules experts. You know that the prohibition is a safety issue and you willfully allowed a safety rule to be violated. If a player gets hurt because you (includes your partner) allowed the player to violate a safety rule, you a are legally liable for his injuries. You knew what the rule was and allowed the rule to be violated. 2) A cannot sign away a minor child's legal right to waive the safety rule, meaning if the child gets hurt because you failed to enforce a safety rule, the parent's signature means nothing. You still let a safety rule to be violated and a player got hurt as a result of your negligence.
This school year will be my 37th year as a H.S. basketball official and my 34th year as a college basketball official and I have never had a player get hurt in one of my games because they were wearing earrings, because I don't allow it.
MTD, Sr.
P.S. Go
BUCKEYES!!! Beat that team from up north tomorrow.