Exactly. I reckon your Empathy Meter may need readjusting if you were to :norc: a player for it.
Holy cow! that's an extraordinary statement! Are you serious?
So: we've got a referee who has made a clear and conscious, well-communicated decision regarding the safety of players in the game. The players concerned, and perhaps their coaches also, decide the referee is a pernickity w@nker who can safely be ignored, have his head patted and then have his decision wholly undermined and ignored, because the player's desire to play in dangerous kit outweighs the referee's decision regarding the safety of the other 29 players.
And you, Taff, discovering that you've been played for a moron, decide to empathise with the people who've decided your opinion isn't worth spit. In fact, you actually
empathise with the view that you are an unmitigated to$$er who can be ignored at best and utterly undermined at worst.
Where is your empathy for the 29 other players put at risk by the irresponsible attitude of the player (and indeed the "empathetic" ref)?
There is an empathy meter that needs readjusting here - but I think it's yours. I think your definition of empathy is anything that allows you to wimp out of hard but responsible decisions.