Earrings & Liability

[BillyMac]

My opinion:

If an official fails to notice a player warming up, or playing with an earring: Bad officiating, but probably not negligent.

If an official fails to notice a player warming up, or playing, with a taped earlobe: Bad officiating, but not negligent.

If an official notices a player warming up, or playing with an earring, and doesn't act upon it: Bad officiating, negligent.

If an official notices a a player warming up, or playing with a taped earlobe, and doesn't ask what's under the tape: Bad officiating, but not negligent.

If an official notices a player warming up, or playing with a taped earlobe, asks the player about it, gets a reply, "It's an earring", and doesn't act upon it: Bad officiating, negligent.

If an official notices a player warming up, or playing with a taped earlobe, asks the player about it, gets a reply, "It's a cut", accepts that reply, and later find that the player lied, had an earring, and was injured because of that earring: Good officiating, not negligent.

If an official officiates in a game using "hybrid" rules, i.e. number of fouls to bonus, running time, etc., and these "hybrid" rules are written down for all to see, and one of the "hybrid" rules is that players may wear earrings: Stick a copy of the rules in your bag, and "When in Rome ...".