Phil Russell
The Executive have approved a simplified protocol for reporting serious injuries.
This protocol only applies to a game for which you have been appointed by the Referees Society.
If you are refereeing at your own club as a private arrangement, you do not need to report any serious injury on WTR. What the club reports to the RFU is up to them.
The reporting protocol applies only to a ‘serious injury’ which results in an ambulance being called or the player otherwise being taken to hospital.
There is no definition of the term’ serious injury’.
The common sense approach therefore is that an injury (including an actual or suspected concussion) which requires the player to go to hospital is ‘serious’ for these purposes.
If no hospital trip is involved, then the injury is not ‘serious’ for reporting purposes.
Reporting a Serious Injury
The Serious Injury report form will appear on WTR as a ‘red cross ‘icon against your fixture after the game has concluded. The only information that you need to collect and include on the form is :
- date of the match
- player’s name
- player’s club and team
- nature of the injury
- brief circumstances in which the injury occurred
You do not need to collect the rest of the information that is referred to on the form and you do not need to check up on the player after you have left the pitch.
Your Serious Injury report form should be saved on WTR as a draft.
Do not save the report as the final version until you have had confirmation from the Society’s Secretary or Chair.
