Broken record

The bib-wearers in action, man-handling a concerned Ulsan player onto their stretcher in the recent friendly against Cambodia (pic courtesy www.nicksellsphotography.com)

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. Stop the bib-wearers grabbing injured players at Cambodian football matches before it's too late and someone gets seriously injured. I've said it before and I'll say it again until I'm blue in the face. I know I don't often talk much sense, but even I can see it's an accident waiting to happen. Sadly, it was prevalent in the SEA Games in Laos as well, as I reported here. There seems to be an edict issued to all referees that when a player goes down injured, they automatically call on the stretcher-bearers who invariably arrive at the player's side before the physio, and man-handle him onto the stretcher before any initial assessment of the injury is made. This happens at all Cambodian games played at Olympic Stadium but was also in place at the SEA Games I watched in Laos in December. Soon, these unqualified bib-wearers will aggravate a broken leg or a ruptured cruciate ligament but by then it will be too late. In an attempt to speed up the game, you cannot play roulette with a player's health. At least allow the physio (= man carrying a wet sponge) the opportunity to ask the player if he's okay. Only then should the four bib-wearers each grab a leg or arm and hoist the player onto their stretcher, preferably all going in the same direction when they leave the pitch! It really is farcical and stupid. Stop it, now.