I got into a discussion with some officals regarding women playing the game with their hair too long. To my surprise there were several guys that were not aware that there are provision in rules that require an intrepretation from the official when this occurs. I believe it is Rule 3, Section 7 which talks about the official making a decision regarding this matter.

The reason why I am asking is because, I was at a game last weekend and there were at least three young ladies that had hair down in the middle of their back. I ask the official at half time, why they allowed them to play and it was stated, they were not aware of any rule applying to the length of hair. I indicated to them that I would not have allowed them to play until the hair situation was taken care of. Isn't this a liability issue for the official(s) if someone were to get hurt doing the course of the game for not enforcing the rule?

Could someone give me a clarification on how this rule should be applied.

[Edited by ugr001 on Jan 26th, 2005 at 01:28 AM]

That rule only says "...items such as a player's...hair style may constitute a safety concern." Length isn't specifically mentioned.

However, we have been told this year that we should require girls with lots of little braids to restrain them. Apparently someone somewhere was flinging her hair into opponents' faces, and it caused some problems. I haven't had to deal with this yet. Not sure what I'll do if it comes up.

Seeing this a lot too. During pregame walkaround I look for this sort of thing and as the rule states - I can deny participation. Hair gets tied up real quick.

SECTION 7 SAFETY CONCERNS
The referee shall not permit any team member to participate if in his/her judgment, items such as a player's fingernails or hair style may constitute a safety concern.

Had a freshman girls game once where one of the girls had numerous braids with beads on the end. I know this is expensive and time consuming but we told her she couldn't play. When the game started at the table there were numerous beads with hair hanging out the end she cut them out before the game started. Coach should have known better.

Wearing the hair long is a hairstyle.

My initial response is ????

Unless the hair is is done is a syle that will hurt some one when whipped around (as previously mentioned) I would not go down the path.

I can just see the conversation with a coach that you are not going to let a girl play because her hair is too long.

What would you do to have them "take care of it"?
Not letting them play due to hair length only is going to be dangerous territory.

I have refereed for more years than I want to admit, I refereed players from MS level to pro level and never seen hair "get tied up" or never seen anyone get hurt because of hair length...

Maybe Juulie will offer us some additional insight beyond that provided already but My advice
Dont go looking for things like this.

Hair length in and of itself is never a safety issue.

Why is it dangerous territory? I think it's more dangerous to allow another player the risk of serious eye injury because someone's hair is flying around like a whip. Just have them tie it up tighter to their head. They are pretty smart about their hair - they can do it. Chances are pretty good that someone will have some more of those hair bands available....you know, the ones they were wearing on their wrists that you told them to take off during pre-game warmups. ;)

Hair length in and of itself is never a safety issue.
[/B][/QUOTE]My own feeling on this one is that it would probably be a good one to get some direction on from a state interpreter or someone like that. It would be nice to have guidelines to follow, and also if everyone in your area was calling it uniformly too. You get into more problems when you hear "they said it was OK last game...." Jmo.

If her hair is flying around like a whip, fast enough to hurt someone, then you're going to have a neck injury to worry about 'cause the girl's going to have whiplash.
Personally, I'm not messing with long hair.

I don't think that's necessarily true. If long hair is braided into 50 or 100 little tiny braids with littly tiny rubberbands at the end of each, they could leave welts with very little energy applied, especially if there is extra artificial hair braided in, as often happens, especially on white girls. But usually all that weight and length is also a detriment to the player herself, and she's already got it restrained.

Now if there are hard plastic beads, everyone knows that's illegal, right? Those have definitely got to come out, or the player sits.

I think its talking about items in the hair not legnth. I had a young lady with beads in her hair and in the pre-game I stressed concern to the coach and play and they told me that she's been playing with them for a month. So in the 3rd quarter and in a close game two beads fell out. I waited until the game slowed down. Took an officials timeout and told the coach she had to leave the game and could not return unless all the beads were removed from her hair. Of course I got so boos, but player safety is always a major concern over style.