Force v Tahs: Gits Injury

[LarryNJ]

I
Whilst I will continue to applaud Lote's sportsmanship. I believe the best thing to do would be to stand/watch over Gits and to wave to the Bench/Officials to ensure medical staff can get to him as quick as possible.

The problem is, in the heat of the moment no one knows how they will react.

I didn't see it, does anyone have a link to a video?

You are right Exile, even if the players are trained in first aid they aren't doctors. They shouldn't move an injured player. Waving for help is the smart thing to do. It shouldn't take more than 60 seconds for the team doctor to make it from the bench. (I'm assuming that there is at least 1 team doctor on the bench) There's a much greater chance of doing more damage moving him than what could happen in the 60 seconds it takes for the doctor to arrive.

[laura]

I did a sport's first aid course last year & just found in the guide...
In the case of an unconscious athlete;
-ABC takes priority overy any injury, including suspected spinal injuries.
-Follow DRABC, except
1. handle the athlete with extreme care, ensuring there is no twisting or movement of the head and neck
2. when turning the athlete onto the side, ensure alignment of the head and spine is maintained.

NB techniques that are least likely to cause movement of the head and neck should be attempted first, eg. use jaw rather than head tilt.

Fortunately for Gits his muscles had contracted and provided the support to maintain his neck in line with his spine.

[Mtbeaver]

Only thanking the Video part of that post, Larry

[waratahjesus]

that was serious input!
lote was super, helped win the game and the hearts of millions with his gesture of aid!
Gits has a concussion, i got concussed on the weekend, i got up, i'm playing again this week! guess were just bread tougher here in the east!

[blueandblack]

that was serious input!
lote was super, helped win the game and the hearts of millions with his gesture of aid!
Gits has a concussion, i got concussed on the weekend, i got up, i'm playing again this week! guess were just bread tougher here in the east!

or more stupid.

"bred".

[Swee_82]

Maybe he meant the sourdough over there is very hard to chew?

[Moses]

You are right Exile, even if the players are trained in first aid they aren't doctors.

Unless your playing Queensland and John Roe comes to your aid.

[Seldom]

Gits was on the bus yesterday. You never know!!!

[gotheforce]

yeah. i heard from a mate that he was travelling to Brisbane for the Reds game as well. Prob to offer some support to the lads.
OR
we might see the debut of the Highest Paid Waterboy Ever in Super Rugby.

[GIGS20]

i got concussed on the weekend, i got up, i'm playing again this week!

Explains a lot!

[The InnFORCEr]

Gits is waterboy this weekend.

[Ecky]

I want to get serious for a moment. I have 2 Questions, one is specifically for our resident referee (thanks Ecky love your work). Aw, shucks, stop it, you're embarrasing me... But everyone is welcome to comment.

I can give you my experience and some thoughts. This is not intended to be a reflection on RugbyWA protocol, nor is it the definitive reply on behalf on anyone except me.

1) Some years back I refereed a 3rds game between Soaks & ARKS when a player went down during a phase of play. (I can't particularly remember if it was just a tackle or whether a ruck or maul had formed) The ball emerged and went out to the backs. I was aware that the player stayed down but, as the ball was moving away from him, I simply followed play. When the ball started coming back down the line and it was obvious it was going to get fairly close to the guy who was down, I stopped play. Remember in 3rds there is no injury time. Just as I was about to stop play there was a number of players calling out to me to draw my attention to the injured player. Players from both sides. When the player had been attended to and carried off (and replaced), we restarted with a scrum to the team last in possession at the place where I had stopped play.

2) In more recent times I was a TJ for 1st grade when a similar thing happened. I don't know if the ref had noticed the injured play - I suspect not as play had moved on and he was keeping up with the play. I monitored where play was going in relation to the injured guy, who by this time had physios/trainers attending, and when it started towards him, I called the ref on our comms gear for him to stop play. 1st grade-time off-injured player sorted-restart as above.

It is an understanding (possibly written into to comp. rules but I don't know - haven't checked) that medical staff may come onto the field at any time to attend to a player in distress, but that they shouldn't interfere with play. If any of the clubs ask me pre-match I tell them that I am not only happy for them to come on in such circumstances, but I expect them to.

The referee is always primarily concerned with the play immediately near the ball and, unless he/she sees a serious incident right in front of him/her, will unlikely stop play. Simply unaware of it due to their focus in the game. To me it was not at all surprising that the ref in Gits' case didn't notice him falling like the proverbial sack of shite because in the brief instant that Gits was in the ref's area of attention, he simply failed to tackle the ball carrier and fell down. This happens many times in a game and is nothing to draw the ref's attention. Then, the ball cleared that area and the ref moved on. As I would have done. (Not to say I'm going to be doing rep games, but you know what I mean...)

I would have thought, no, expected, the Assistant Referees would have brought the incident to the ref's attention but, again, unless the play is coming back that way, it's not surprising that the ref allowed play to continue and stopped time at the next actual stoppage. Also would have expected the medical folk to rush out there even while play was in progress. This being the only game I haven't been to, I dunno whether that happened, but expect it did.

I personally thought that what Lote did was a fantastic gesture -albeit very naive as per the medical opinions that have appeared in this thread. I am senior 1st aid qualified - hell, my dad's even a doctor! - and I know I would have done it differently if I were there, but still top marks to Lote for his actions in the spur of the moment.

[chiselhead]

It's a tough decision to make. The game was going on and it may have been several minutes before the game was stopped. Gits was out cold. Simple fact is, he may have had his airways obstructed by his tongue, mouthguard, or vomit. If he asphyxiates from lack of oxygen and dies, everybody complains that Lote didn't help him. Then again if he has a non displaced fracture of the cervical vertebrae and moving his neck displaces it compressing his spinal cord, he ends up in a wheel chair. What would John Wayne do?

[force addict]

what would AJ do

[chiselhead]

what would AJ do

AJ would scratch his head and collapse