What, if anything, would or could you do if you were the official?

[Mark Liggett]

Ambulance denied field access to injured player

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=7791642

Moral of the story - the only thing common about "common sense" is that it's not so common.......

[KB]

Write a report and make it as condemning as I can.

In Austria, no football game is allowed without an ambulance already at the field, and an emergency MD is only minutes away. Nobody ever prevented the ambulance from driving onto the field in case there was a serious injury with damage to the head, neck or spine suspected. We even had a helicopter land on a field.
In case the injured player has to be taken to the hospital, we wait for the next ambulance to arrive at the field, unless a MD with emergency experience/knowledge is with one of the teams.

[TXMike]

I think the issue here is the ambulance crew wanted to respond to the player by staying in the ride all the way to the player.  I don't think I have ever seen that.  The crews I have seen stay on the perimeter of the field, walk/jog/run to the player with their kit, and then if they deem it more serious, drive the ambulance to the field to minimize the distance the player has to be taken on the gurney before he is hauled off. 

The administrator appeared to use bad judgment but the crew should not have made an issue out of it either. 

[KB]

As I said, at the time that this happens the officials can't do anything about it. Just write the report and let the powers to be handle it.

[lawdog]

This is being blown way out of proportion.  The stretcher has wheels for a reason.  No need for the ambulance to drive right to the kid.  I was an EMT for years and you very seldom get to park right next to your patient and never really need to.  Get off your butt and walk to the kid!

[KB]

Depends on the condition of the field. At some fields, you want the suspension of the ambulance car between the patient and the bumps

[Wettstein]

I agree, it is way out of propotion.  I have NEVER seen a vehicle as heavy as an ambluance on any football field.  Mainly for safety reasons.  What would they have said if they had allowed this and on a later play in the game a player broke an ankle due to the runts in the field?  Do you see vehicles on pro fields? on college fields?  They use those carts and for good reason.  Heck for most concussions, they have the player walk off the field.  People just want to complain about something.

[Jason Kramer]

I have NEVER seen a vehicle as heavy as an ambluance on any football field. 

You must have never played Madden:


But seriously, I've been at games where an ambulance has been on the field after a kid suffers a head/neck injury.
Plenty of examples:

[KB]

The ambulance will do less damage to any field than a player during game action.

The ambulance's weight of appr. 2 metric tons is distributed over the 4 wheels with something like 20 by 10 centimeters of contact area per wheel. So the pressure is something like 2000 kg / 800 cm2.
OTOH, a player of 100 kg often has his weight and the additional forces of his and his opponent's movement concentrated on an area of less than 50 cm2, with a lot of lateral force that will tear up the turf. A carefully driven ambulance (low speed, no tight turns) won't do this.

[bama_stripes]

Do you see vehicles on pro fields? on college fields? 

College and pro teams typically have a "golf" cart to take the injured player off the field.  In addition, they typically have medical facilities at the stadium to handle all but the most serious injuries.

If I'm at a field out in the boondocks and an ambulance is the only transportation available, you're darn tootin' I'm stopping the game to allow it on the field.

[Etref]

The ambulance will do less damage to any field than a player during game action.

The ambulance's weight of appr. 2 metric tons is distributed over the 4 wheels with something like 20 by 10 centimeters of contact area per wheel. So the pressure is something like 2000 kg / 800 cm2.
OTOH, a player of 100 kg often has his weight and the additional forces of his and his opponent's movement concentrated on an area of less than 50 cm2, with a lot of lateral force that will tear up the turf. A carefully driven ambulance (low speed, no tight turns) won't do this.

Okay, and what does all of that compute to in Texan?

[fbrefga]

Okay, and what does all of that compute to in Texan?

The "tars" will not hurt the field!   

(I lived in Texas for several years.)

[Wettstein]

The "tars" may not hurt the field in states that have no rain and it is hard as rock, but regardless of all the metric calculations, I will gurantee that if we drive a truck on fields in virginia, there will be runts deeper, wider, and longer than any football player's foot - regardless of how the driver drives the vehicle.

[VALJ]

The ambulance that I let onto the field a few weeks ago in my game out in the back woods of my part of Virginia didn't leave any tire marks.  YMMV, though.

[Wettstein]

YMMV?

[VALinesman]

The "tars" may not hurt the field in states that have no rain and it is hard as rock, but regardless of all the metric calculations, I will gurantee that if we drive a truck on fields in virginia, there will be runts deeper, wider, and longer than any football player's foot - regardless of how the driver drives the vehicle.

I have done games on both ends of the Commonwealth, and I have no idea what you are talking about.

On point though, as an official, I am going nowhere near that controversy. Not my call. Let the school deal with the press on that issue.

[RMR]

YMMV?

Your Mileage May Vary

[VALJ]

I have done games on both ends of the Commonwealth, and I have no idea what you are talking about.

On point though, as an official, I am going nowhere near that controversy. Not my call. Let the school deal with the press on that issue.

Agreed.  I'm not going to be "the referee who made the EMTs take the injured player all the way across the bumpy chewed up field", nor am I going to be "the referee who told the EMTs to drive all the way across the field and dug the divots that led to the second kid breaking his leg."  Game management can take that heat.

[HLinNC]

I stand back and wait for the kid to be carted off- either on a stretcher, an ambulance, a gator, or them little folding things that soccer players tote out to carry off a wounded compadre'.

We've got absolutely nothing to do until its time to blow the next RFP.
That's home admin's problem.

[110]

My job is player safety. Paramedics wanna bring the ambulance on the field, I can't say no.

[ballhog]

We've got absolutely nothing to do until its time to blow the next RFP.
That's home admin's problem.

And there is the bottom line of the entire situation

[VALJ]

My job is player safety. Paramedics wanna bring the ambulance on the field, I can't say no.

Livin' in the pit FTW!

[TxGrayhat]

I stay out of it. Let game administrators do thier job. If for some unbelieveable reason The decision is mine and the medical staffs want the ambulance or even helicopter out there I will agree to the request of the medical person taking care of injured player.

[Mark Liggett]

I stay out of it. Let game administrators do thier job. If for some unbelieveable reason The decision is mine and the medical staffs want the ambulance or even helicopter out there I will agree to the request of the medical person taking care of injured player.

Agreed, the whole point of the post was that it was hard for me to wonder why the article was even an issue.  But I wanted to see what y'all said.  I've seen both - stretchers running 50+ yards and ambulances not worried about their weight.  When it comes to an injured player and the severity of the injury I doubt any of us would do anything but stand out of the way while treatment was delivered as soon as possible.