Chatham Town boss Paul Foley quizzes FA over concerns over players' safety

Monday 07th March 2011

CHATHAM TOWN boss Paul Foley says something needs to be done to guarantee the safety of players' on a football pitch.

Midfielder Anthony Hogg was left with a gash in his right cheek some three to four inches long after a horrific challenge by a Leatherhead player during the Ryman League Division One South game between the two sides four weeks ago.

Foley told www.chathamtownfc.net at the time, “by all accounts the plastic surgeon did a very neat job on his face with 5 stitches inside his mouth and 15 or more on the outside of his cheek. The cut was by far the worst I have seen in 20 plus years of non-league football running from the top of his ear to past his mouth, like he had been cut open with a knife.

“It was horrendous and leaves me wondering what checks are carried out before a game by the officials as the lads’ studs or blades must have a rough edge or a bit of metal showing.”

Foley gave an updated on Hogg’s situation, saying, “Ant is heading up thankfully but the docs have told him to let the whole injury settle down before embarking on any serious physical activity as the inside of his cheek and mouth was in a bad way. He is a tough lad though and he will be wanting to get back to playing I am sure.”

Ryman League managers attended a FA Course on 28 February at Tonbridge Angels’ Longmead Stadium, which was fronted by Neale Barry, the FA refereeing representative to discuss the “Respect” campaign for referees and cleaning up the game.

Foley said: “We are all agreed that we need to remove the unsavoury parts of the game like dissent, confrontation and the like so they were all preaching to the converted but Neale Barry, the FA refereeing representative giving the talk, gave me an unbelievable answer to my query afterwards about the checking of studs.

“When I asked him why it was only a cursory visual inspection now rather than the previous more thorough tactile check he advised that they have stopped that now as referees were getting cut hands from rough edges. I kid you not, that was his reply. I started to laugh and said quite bluntly ‘Well that is mental, so the reason the health and safety check is only visual nowadays is for Health & Safety reasons?!’.

“He just agreed and gave no option for a solution but did add the similarly remarkable ‘We generally ask the referees to inspect the boots after an injury has occurred if necessary, but this is a little after the event obviously.’

“Something needs to be done about this clearly before someone gets severely hurt. I was at a loss for words which is a rarity. Surely the risk of a small scratch on a referee’s hand in a controlled check is less of a problem compared to the very large risk of a severe cut inflicted by a flying boot travelling with speed and force.

“What is going to happens when, god forbid, an artery is cut by a sharp stud or blade? The FA and Referees’ Association need to recognise the liability issues here.

“Is it down the players to check their boots are safe or is it down the officials controlling the game which includes all Health & Safety issues?

“In my view it has always been the domain of the referee to advise, control and manage on the safety aspects of the game. If it is meant to be the players then why isn’t there a directive about this?"

Foley added: “In a recent game against Metropolitan Police we could not bring on Mike Azzopardi as the Assistant Referee would not allow him to enter the field of play with his fingers heavily taped up over his wedding ring. The ring would not have moved in a million years and Mike simply couldn’t remove it having been married for a while and probably having slimmer fingers back then! I could understand it if the finger was not taped up but it was.

“So it would appear that the systematic application of the rules trumped logic and common sense on that occasion yet we can bend them for the severe risk items for the small risk of small cuts? Madness."

Article courtesy of www.chathamtownfc.net