Earring question

[jref060606]

Hey all --

New official here -- and I've had people tell me different things. 6 minutes left in a game. You discover that player on the home team has (a) an earring that can come out; (b) a belly button ring (girl was tucking in her shirt and official saw it).

What do you do? Tell her to take it out? Does she have to sit/be subbed for? Technical foul?

Thanks!!

[grunewar]

Earring - TWEET! "Coach, I need another player, this one is not ready to play" and send them off. I've done it several times for earrings, necklaces, etc. (It should be caught during warm-ups though).

Bellyring. Ignore.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Bellyring. Ignore.

You never saw it. I repeat. You never saw it.

I guess that you can tell your wife. She can't be compelled to testify against you in court? Right? But then you would have to explain to her why you were looking there to begin with. Forget it. Don't tell your wife. Again, you never saw it, and if you did see it, don't ever tell anyone that you saw it. If you tell anyone, we'll have to kill you.

[Mark Padgett]

Be sure to tell your wife if you saw a player with nipple rings.

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Earring - TWEET! "Coach, I need another player, this one is not ready to play" and send them off. I've done it several times for earrings, necklaces, etc. (It should be caught during warm-ups though).

Agree.

Bellyring. Ignore.

Disagree. Handle the same way.

(That is, handle the same way once you know about it. Look for earrings and nose or lip piercings, etc; don't look for navel or nipple piercings.)

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by grunewar

Bellyring. Ignore.

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

Disagree.

By rule, and by purpose and intent of rule, i.e. player safety, bob jenkins is correct. He's also correct in stating: "Look for earrings and nose or lip piercings, etc; don't look for navel or nipple piercings."

[jaybird]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

By rule, and by purpose and intent of rule, i.e. player safety, bob jenkins is correct. He's also correct in stating: "Look for earrings and nose or lip piercings, etc; don't look for navel or nipple piercings."

So what you're saying is that a strip search is beyond the bounds of authority of the game officials. Correct?

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by jaybird

So what you're saying is that a strip search is beyond the bounds of authority of the game officials. Correct?

Not if you think a female coach is wearing a belly button ring.

[Adam]

And don't listen to Mommy when she comes down and tells you Suzie can't take the earrings out because they were just pierced.

And don't let them try to cover it with tape.

And for God's sake, don't call a technical foul (this happened in a FG game here this year).

[justacoach]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

And don't listen to Mommy when she comes down and tells you Suzie can't take the earrings out because they were just pierced.

And don't let them try to cover it with tape.

And for God's sake, don't call a technical foul (this happened in a FG game here this year).

Just a reminder on the proper semantics. Your approach should be to not allow participation because of wearing jewelry, not dictating that the jewelry must be removed. Pay close attention to the difference.

Earrings under tape can just as easily result in shredded earlobe and extensive corrective plastic surgery.

Forgot the clever adlib that was suggested in response to the classic complaint "The last set of refs said it was okay". Can someone recall?

[Adam]

1. I'm not particularly concerned about the semantics here. If I forget to say she can keep them in if she doesn't play, oh well.
2. Agreed.
3. "I think the last set of refs jumped off a bridge after the game."