Injured Player; Officials Timeout

[verticalStripes]

Thanks for all your responses. I posted this thread to generate discussion.

I see a lot of officials that instruct the players to take a knee when a player is injured. Obviously, coaches are not allowed on the field to coach the players. I don't think is it correct to tell the players to take a knee since they are allowed to to go near the sidelines.

Also, I see officials tell their players to stay inside the "numbers" on the field. I think the confusion is that officials are stopping an authorized conference, and they should. However, players should free to go near the sidelines between plays.

[mcrowder]

Originally Posted by verticalStripes

Thanks for all your responses. I posted this thread to generate discussion.

I see a lot of officials that instruct the players to take a knee when a player is injured. Obviously, coaches are not allowed on the field to coach the players. I don't think is it correct to tell the players to take a knee since they are allowed to to go near the sidelines.

Also, I see officials tell their players to stay inside the "numbers" on the field. I think the confusion is that officials are stopping an authorized conference, and they should. However, players should free to go near the sidelines between plays.

It's not our job to tell them to take a knee, or to put their hands on their heads, or to pat their bellies. Or where to stand, for that matter. Not sure why an official would do this.

We do herd them away from the injured player - but we should not do anything else regarding where or how they stand or sit.

[GBFBUmp]

Originally Posted by mcrowder

We do herd them away from the injured player - but we should not do anything else regarding where or how they stand or sit.

We do move both teams away from the injured player too. We then instruct the trainers to bring in water if they like. Other than that the players are on a normal Official's timeout.

If it looks like it will be an extended timeout we do send the players to their respective sidelines.

Had a varsity game injury earlier this season that took 20 minutes for a player that had his leg broken. Then he had another 45 minute ride in an ambulance to a Green Bay hospital. Poor kid. Parents weren't at the game either, I suspect it was pretty scary for the kid.