1. The piercing won't get infected or close up in an hour or so. It can be tricky to get the earring back in for the first week or two, but not impossible.

2. A little thread, strung through a needle, sterilized with alcohol, and then run through the peircing and the ends tied and trimmed is safe, I think, and the earring is easier to get back in. This idea may pacify a mom, if she has that sort of thing available.

3. If there's tape or a bandaid, I ALWAYS ask. If they say no, I ask what the bandaid is for. If they insist there's no earring, I ask to see. Only once have I seen a bandaid that the girl had put on carefully to protect a new piercing without an earring. This is legal.

4. If they get testy, I point out that having a newly pierced ear ripped by a snag of the earring is no fun, and not covered by my insurance. THey usually get the point. (That goes double for a navel piercing)

I've said in rec leagues and AAU stuff, if I have to take out my nipple ring, they gotta remove their hardware.

I usually ask boys before the tip if any of them have nipple rings. It always gets a laugh, but once I actually had a kid go over to the bench and take one off! This was a HS rec game.

And Juulie, before you ask, no - I never ask girls. Go ahead, call me a sexist. :p

but couldn't you still get a jersey, thread, etc wrapped around the front of it and have it rip out of his/her ear? no way in heck i am letting someone play with that, at least until the fed decides that it is ok....

Here's an idea. DON"T GET YOUR EARS PIERCED RIGHT BEFORE/DURING THE SEASON!!! I have never understood what is so hard about that?

Yea sure I suppose its possible. But I think if his head is that close to another players uniform there is bigger problems. I did actually think about it and got the Mommy to sign off responsibility. Its Never gonna happen in a regular sanctioned game however.

Really? Players reach around other players all the time. Some players wear t-shirts and the like. I wouldn't think it's all that uncommon for one player's sleeve to rub against another player's ear.

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.

Mark that may be true in the USA where people get sued for looking at each other crosseyed. I can't say for sure but I think as long as the legal parent or guardian takes the responsibility for the child ( as long as no other person(s)) will be involved. Then I am not liable. That being said, I have agreed that it was not a normal situation and would not allow it to happen at a regularly sanctioned game. This was a pre preseason scrimmage where the teams were jsut starting out for the year and they had us out to run some FIBA rules for them to get used to. It was overly informal, running time, unlimited number of time outs all for the purpose of the coaches seeing the kids on the floor. I agree with what you are saying Mark, 100% and in hindsight it could have been a bad experience. I for one have never seen an incident involving earrings in 27 years though and after consulting with my partner, coaches and parent we went with what we had.

BY RULE NO JEWELERY IS TO BE WORN. I know this rule and want to re enforce it to anyone who is thinking that it can be arbitrarily ignored.

Thanks for your comments. I learn each time I go on the floor.

And, of course, you got every parent of every other kid to sign off also in case their kid got hurt and the waiver was written by an attorney who has experience in writing these waivers and you got permission to do this by the governing authority and had all the parents waive the governing authorities liability also, etc., etc, etc. Suuuuuuuuure you did.

Buddy, you're just asking for so much trouble even Judge Judy couldn't get you off the hook! :eek:

I guess you're that ref we keep hearing about who let the kid play with earrings in the last game. Now we know. Thanks for confessing. :p

HAHA. I can see where this is going. I won't say I made a great decision. I won't say I made the decision myself. I for one was against it in the begining but did cave in. I didnt need every other players parents to consent as the earring posed no danger to anyone else (In our combined Opinon). WE GOT LUCKY ON THAT REGARD, in hindsight. I admit it. Please don't confuse my simple example of something that could happen with something I condone. It happened that time I shared my experience and have stated it wont happen in sanctioned games in my area. I also don't want anyone to preach the gospel rulebooks to me we all know the rule is No jewelry is to be worn. Ok I admit it. :o :D

See even after 27 years I still am learning.

Mark:

Glad to see you are back on your meds. :D

MTD, Sr.