Clearer guidance on head injuries and concussion is needed in Scottish football to protect the players says Forres Mechanics manager Steven MacDonald
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Forres Mechanics manager Steven MacDonald has called for more rigid concussion laws to protect players who receive bad head knocks.
MacDonald claimed that some clubs are risking the health of their players by putting them on the field of play when they have not been given time to recover from head injuries.
He said the rules on how long players who receive concussion in a match should be rested up are unclear in the lower levels of the Scottish game.
Forres midfielder Dale Wood was concussed after a clash of heads in a recent match at Brora, and his club took the precaution of removing him from the selection for the following week's match against Fraserburgh even though he had shown signs of recovery.
At the top level, guidance has been given for players to be rested for a minimum of one week and up to two weeks if they sustain concussion.
"I think there is something in place in the top leagues but not at our level," said MacDonald. "It’s just because it’s higher profile and all the television cameras are on them, that’s the difference.
"But at our level, if you look at the rules there is nothing in place to say these guys are not allowed to play after they have had a concussion.
"The SFA (Scottish Football Association) and the Highland Football League need to do better with it as well and put clearer rules in place."
The Forres manager says he has seen examples in the north game of players being thrust back into action too quickly after a head trauma, and said players' safety must come first.
"Everyone should act better on this and I know for a fact that there’s clubs playing these boys and taking the chance because they think they will be OK or they need them for a big game or whatever.
"But I don’t think that is good enough.
"You will see some boys going off with concussion on a Saturday and still playing the following Saturday. It’s not really clear, and I don’t think it’s fair."
MacDonald admitted that Wood initially played on for Mechanics after his head knock at Brora but the right action was taken after it was determined how bad his injury was.
"Dale carried on last week which is bad from our point of view and something I didn’t like. But we didn’t realise it was as bad as it was.
"We’ve just got to be more careful with these things.
"He had to go to hospital afterwards and get checked out, and he was really quite knocked about for the next couple of days.
"So we were not willing to play against Fraserburgh last week even though he was probably alright."
Concussion substitutions were trialled last year by the English and Scottish football authorities for top level matches.
Clubs were allowed a maximum of two concussion substitutes made regardless of the number of substitutes they had already used in that match.
When a head injury is sustained or suspected, the team may either use one of their existing substitutes, if the maximum permitted number have not been used, or make an additional concussion substitute.
When a concussion substitute is used, the opposing team has the option to use an additional substitute for any reason.
The substituted player will not be allowed to return to the field of play.
