federation - piaa jewelry policy

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Interesting. NFHS basketball has a similar rule barring jewelry except for religious or medical reasons, but.....we are specifically told by the FED that we cannot tell anyone to take anything off. We have been directed to tell the player(s) that they can't play wearing illegal jewelry and must stay on the bench until the jewelry is removed. Supposedly it's some kinda legal/PC/human rights issue. This applies to pre-game warm-ups too.

FED baseball does seem to be slightly different. Cf. 1.5.12B: "...The umpire will instruct B1 that he must remove the ring or he will not be permitted to play."

In basketball we leave the choice implicit: "You may not be on the floor wearing that."

I speculate that the difference stems from the fact that the rules for basketball are for both boys and girls. You would not want to hear a (male) referee hollering "Hey, take that off!" to a girl.