Marco Silva: Fulham coach calls for a review of the rules for treating head injuries

Before the start of the current season, the treatment list for suspected head injuries was changed to become as follows:

“When a player is suspected of having a head injury and the referee stops the match, the referee will immediately signal a doctor or physiotherapist to enter the field in order to enhance the player’s health. The player will need to leave the field for further assessment and remain on the touchline for at least 30 seconds after play resumes.”

In a pre-season press conference, Howard Webb, chief refereeing officer at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), stated that the rules were intended to improve the welfare of players and prevent foul play.

“What we’ve said this year is that if a player makes signals to the referee that he has a potential head injury, it’s usually because the player is down holding his head,” Webb said.

“If the referee decides to stop the match mainly due to concerns that it is or could be a head injury, we will call a doctor or physiotherapist immediately.

“We want to make sure a player gets help if they get a real head injury, but there was also a feeling that too often players were going down holding their heads. Then the game was stopped as a result and the player was completely fine.

“This is to protect player safety, but also hopefully prevent people from playing with it a little bit by stopping the game.”