It is done as a courtesy. The referee has the option to stop play if he/she deems a player is seriously injured. Otherwise, the ref. will allow play to continue if the down player's team is not in possesion of the ball. For this reason, the team with the ball, if they see the down player, will go ahead and play the ball out of bounds to stop play. Then the courtesy is for the team with the down player to throw it in back to the team that kicked it out. There are times they will not extend this courtesy....when they believe the down player is faking an injury to stop an advantage, when they don't see the down player, or when they are inside the 18 ready to score. I have never seen a team give up a shot to kick the ball out.

My only issue with this....and I have seen it in one CCH game.....won't say which team did it because it isn't about that.........but CCH had the ball and was in the attacking half. On the side of the field away from the benches...........the other team's player went down in CCH's defending half in front of the bench......so away from the play if you are playing the home game......

 

......for a muscle CRAMP........

 

To me.....cramps are not injuries.....they hurt.....but play should not be stopped because of them.....

 

In this case....as CCH was attacking on the other side of the field, the fans started yelling to kick it out........and then the ref stopped play, and stopped the attack. Trainer came out, stretched the toes up (you know the cramp stretch,) and the player jumped right up and walked to the bench.

 

When play resumed, CCH had a free kick at the point of the injury....on the other side of the field, about 35 yards farther back from where they had the ball........

 

So IMHO......I consider this move the same as a delay of game and should be addressed....perhaps with a yellow to the player or the bench.............

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My only issue with this....and I have seen it in one CCH game.....won't say which team did it because it isn't about that.........but CCH had the ball and was in the attacking half. On the side of the field away from the benches...........the other team's player went down in CCH's defending half in front of the bench......so away from the play if you are playing the home game......

 

......for a muscle CRAMP........

 

To me.....cramps are not injuries.....they hurt.....but play should not be stopped because of them.....

 

In this case....as CCH was attacking on the other side of the field, the fans started yelling to kick it out........and then the ref stopped play, and stopped the attack. Trainer came out, stretched the toes up (you know the cramp stretch,) and the player jumped right up and walked to the bench.

 

When play resumed, CCH had a free kick at the point of the injury....on the other side of the field, about 35 yards farther back from where they had the ball........

 

So IMHO......I consider this move the same as a delay of game and should be addressed....perhaps with a yellow to the player or the bench.............

 

 

In a Cooper game, earlier this season, an almost identical situation occurred.... but it was handled quite differently.

 

The offensive team lost possession of the ball about 35 yards from their goal, right in the middle of the field. Cooper immediately tried to counter attack but the player who lost the ball grabbed his leg and went down right in front of the Cooper player who stole the ball. The Cooper player was able to get around him and proceed with the attack, although it had been slowed by his actions. Play continued downfield as the player laid on the ground, once there was a stoppage of play, the ref stopped the clock and returned to the player who was down. The ref motioned for the player who was down to get up, the ref went to the bench and had a discussion with the coach, then returned to where the player was now standing... had a stern talk with the young man and proceeded to issue him a yellow card.

 

We never received an explanation, I can only assume that the card was for faking an injury, he did not make any contact with the Cooper player nor did we hear him say anything that would have resulted in him being carded.

Saw in the US vs Germany World Cup game when Clint Dempsey was hurt a German kicked the ball out of bounds during the game to allow him to rest. After Dempsey was removed from the field, USA kicks the ball back to Germany.

 

I guess this is an unwritten courtesy thing? Anyways, really cool to see the respect both teams had for one another on the biggest stage in the world.

 

RIGHT - ON - Would Like To See More Of That...