Mini Rugby - Stopping Match for Injury

[Browner]

If a player is obviously injured or stays down as play moves away, I will blow whether a try was about to be scored or not. Safety is key and to err on the side of caution is sensible. If anything happened to a player and I hadn't acted accordingly, I would never forgive myself.

I operated slightly differently ( & only offer this having travelled through the whole minis juniors experience at the top end of Region rugby ) IME serious injuries are very very rare, and if i saw a player down and moving then id keep an close eye on him but rarely stopped the match , and in every case i can remember the player was merely nursing a knock ( of various degrees) rather than being concussed. The exceptions included a dislocation where the player was screaming in pain & all the players stopped anyway... or when blood was clearly streaming from his nose ( young kids think blood means they'll soon die !) & the whistle went.

I know this won't meet everyones 'comforting or BStSorry standard' , but the parents in our group were fully supportive of knocks being part of the toughening up process, and you will get to know which players in your side are less resilient to a few bumps than others.

One lad, famous for his regularity of rolling in agony was equally famous for the parents all knowing that a mere sip of his mothers lovingly mixed orange squash would immediately see him springing up back into action ready to tackle the world again within the next 15 seconds!

They became then, and still are a resilient bunch.

PS...spectators running on, discourage firmly .... They are learning / need educating also!!

 

[Dan_A]

Thinking about it at minis I would stop for head injuries and anything I really don't like the look of (we had a nice dislocated kneecap last season). Anything else is play on.

 

[wolfie]

I ref adult rugby and for my son's U12 side. The latter is definitely the hardest. I will only stop for an injury if it's looks particularly severe and he needs immediate care or if by leaving him he could sustain further injury. I regularly send players to coaches for a 60 sec check over before they continue.

Whenever a mini player is hurt I will signal to any parent and coaches to come and help him. 9 times out of 10 the parents will look the other way and pretend they didn't see me.

I have only once had a minis assistance coach have a go at me because he thought I must stop for every injury,he was also the same person that thought players in front of a player who kicks the ball are not offside - enough said I think.

 

[wolfie]

I ref adult rugby and for my son's U12 side. The latter is definitely the hardest. I will only stop for an injury if it's looks particularly severe and he needs immediate care or if by leaving him he could sustain further injury. I regularly send players to coaches for a 60 sec check over before they continue.

Whenever a mini player is hurt I will signal to any parent and coaches to come and help him. 9 times out of 10 the parents will look the other way and pretend they didn't see me.

I have only once had a minis assistance coach have a go at me because he thought I must stop for every injury,he was also the same person that thought players in front of a player who kicks the ball are not offside - enough said I think.