Hello Cecil,
What do you think of my new earrings?

You, like myself, will have received a communication from Ray Register the Hon. Secretary of the Surrey County Referees Association of Training Officers Committee (SCRATOC) laying down 'the law' appertaining to the wearing of jewellery by players participating in a game of football.

I note with a degree of interest that Ray is a non-active referee.

Whilst yet another Law of the game has been updated, the content of which can be enforced, without any positive action being taken by a match official, when officiating at the 'professional' level in as much managers of these teams are well aware of the content of Law 4 and would therefore enforce them, one anticipates!  (On second thoughts not 'all' perhaps most).  However an entirely different aspect applies at the 'grass roots' (the amateur level - i.e. where a player pays to play).  I would suggest that it is most unlikely that a referee on attendance at a team dressing room at a suggested 15 minutes before a game commences would find more than half-a-dozen players present, let alone a manager.  Try and gather the players of a single team together on the pitch before a game commences, you may as well talk to yourself!  In any case if an accident did occur and an 'action' was undertaken against the referee you could almost be certain that a claim would be endorsed by the team concerned as 'the referee didn't say anything to us before the game' , even if he had!
To me this whole situation is a player responsibility and as such all League-Player Registration Forms should carry an advice that under the Laws of Association Football - Law 4 "A player must not use equipment or wear anything which is dangerous to himself or another player (including any kind of jewellery)">  Having signed the form, surely this would reduce our direct responsibility as it stands at the present time?

I feel also, that it was unwisely advised that a claim could be made against a referee, should an injury occur, although, fortunately the majority of local parks footballers would have to find out just what the word 'litigation' meant.

Brian Thornton