Feigning head injuries

Manager's won't be accepting it so much as actively encouraging it.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Manager's won't be accepting it so much as actively encouraging it.

You could see that yesterday in the 2nd half when they pretty much had a mid half team talk during a stoppage.

Quoted from MarinerWY

Rugby league introduced a green card along similar lines:

"player will be shown a green card if the game is forced to be paused for them to receive treatment. If the player is shown the green card, they will have to stay off the field for two minutes."

"the change is being encouraged in an attempt to stop players from attempting to pick up a player who has stayed down while also discouraging players from feigning injury"

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/green-card-rugby-league-2023-25879386

Worth noting that head injuries carry a mandatory assessment anyway so a player will be off the pitch for a head injury regardless.

Interesting concept though. I've seen it in practice when a player was definitely stalling for time and ref has used green card, even 2 mins of being a player down makes you more vulnerable, it has limited the number of feigned injuries from what I've seen (altho no data on this as hard to ascertain what's feigned I imagine). In the game I'm thinking of it nipped it in the bud, previously a team would of potentially stalled a few times to run the clock down, it happened once he got green carded and it didn't happen for remainder of game.

The culture in RL is completely different to football at all levels, generally players don’t go down but it has crept in at times and refs seem to sniff it out.

Quoted from Grantham_Mariner

If you go down holding your head and physio comes on you should have to go off for ten minutes and be seen by a doctor before you return on pitch. That will stop the fake  ones.

The solution is being developed...

[url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2021/rugby-study-identifies-new-method-to-diagnose-concussion-using-saliva-1]Concussion Saliva Test[/url]

Anyone found to be feigning a hesd injury should have their head removed. Problem solved.

If they was made to go off for 5 mins following a head injury then the play acting would stop tomorrow.

Fans are paying good money to see a game of football not some  Nancy roll around on the floor when the games going against them

You’d have thought with all the dementia stuff around ex players, that football would be taking this a whole lot more seriously. The RL protocol seems about right as does continuing to play and let the player get treated. That in itself would stop loads of play acting.

If a player goes down with a head injury then in the majority of cases they will be able to walk off the pitch to the nearest point. Receive treatment there and don't let them back on for a full 5 minutes with no sub. So their team plays with 10 men for a least 5 mins.

It would address the feigning injuries problem whilst a genuine case can be stretchered off and subbed.

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

You can't punish teams for genuine head injuries because of others milking the system. I'd say all head injury stoppages will be video reviewed and subject the a potential three game bam if deemed to be playacting.

Why would it punish a team with a genuine head injury? Concussion substitutes are already a thing in the international laws of the game aren't they? If a player suffers a head injury and he is displaying symptoms of concussion then both teams get an additional substitute. So there's no risk of pressure on a player with a head injury to play on because his team has used all 5 substitutes. That's pretty fair. You don't get an extra sub if a player has a broken leg do you? It's up to the EFL to implement that law.

The real solution is simple. For a head injury you can bring on a temporary concussion substitute for X minutes (maybe 5). In that time the injured player sees an independent doctor. If he's passed fit he comes back on and the temporary sub departs. If he isn't passed fit (i.e. the doctor diagnoses concussion) the substitute becomes permanent. To stop abuse of the system the injured player has to go through a phased return to training and matches regardless of whether another doctor subsequently disputes the concussion diagnosis. And maybe the temporary sub should be unable to take throw-ins, set pieces and penalties until the change becomes permanent to avoid tactical "special teams" temporary subs.

Quoted from DB

If a player goes down with a head injury then in the majority of cases they will be able to walk off the pitch to the nearest point. Receive treatment there and don't let them back on for a full 5 minutes with no sub. So their team plays with 10 men for a least 5 mins.

It would address the feigning injuries problem whilst a genuine case can be stretchered off and subbed.

Or get them to go off at the nearest point, walk round to the dug out where an independent HCP makes a short assessment before they go back on. If a 3rd party says yes or know to whether they continue it may stop clubs making unsafe decisions re player welfare.

Then again referees clearly have trouble identifying the nearest point in the current rules so it wouldn’t get if the ground.