Our ENCL-RL team has a trainer at all the games and any head injury is examined by them. My kid banged heads and was inspected by the trainer and held out for the rest of the game. Then we went to a dr and did a concussion protocol series with the club before re-entering practice that took two weeks and only started after all concussion symptoms cleared up.

It was all taken very seriously, although in the end we'll have to decide how many times that can happen before we switch to XR.

Anonymous wrote:

My point...don't trust coaches. They don't know. Referees definitely don't know.

I don't know about coaches, but referees are specifically trained such that they have to clear any possible concussion with a medical professional. They can't just do a concussion protocol and say the kid is ok themseleves.

I am an active referee. NCSL, EDP, REC, SFL, ECNL, ECNL-R, Super Y, all sorts of tournaments as well. All in the past year. So really the only league I do not ref in is MLS Next. I have been a referee for the past 6 years. My son referees with me the past 4 years. We easily do over 100 games a year. We do all the re-certifications every year. I am not sure what special training you are saying that referees have. I do know that I have the authority to stop the game if I feel a player is injured in any way. I can prevent the game from continuing if I feel like there is a player that needs to leave the field of play and either the player is refusing or the coaching is refusing to sub him out. I can in no way diagnose a concussion. I can send a player to a trainer , if available, to be cleared. I agree that a referee cannot ok a kid...to some extent. As stated earlier, anytime a ball TOUCHES a U11 or younger in the head, the referee stops play. Most of the time the player is just fine and the player stays on the field. If there are any concerns, he gets subbed out. Only once did I say to a coach that I don't think that kid should come back on. Otherwise, I let the coach decide if the player subs back in. If the player subs back in, I keep a closer eye on the player. That's about all you can do.

DD refs in a couple rec leagues here. I just asked her what the protocol is when someone heads the ball and they shouldn’t have. She said play is stopped and the opposing team gets a free kick. No subbing.

Anonymous wrote:

My point...don't trust coaches. They don't know. Referees definitely don't know.

I don't know about coaches, but referees are specifically trained such that they have to clear any possible concussion with a medical professional. They can't just do a concussion protocol and say the kid is ok themseleves.

The referees get paid $20 a game and do not care