Fulham manager Marco Silva has called for a review of the rules around players needing treatment for head injuries, after his side conceded a goal when temporarily reduced to 10 men in their 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace.
Referee Tony Harrington asked Jorge Cuenca to leave the pitch for treatment after the Fulham defender appeared to put his hands to his face after being caught by a stray arm of Palace’s Justin Devenny.
Cuenca was unhappy with the referee’s decision, but walked off the pitch before play restarted.
Oliver Glasner’s side then took the lead through a header from Jean-Philippe Mateta just a few seconds later, while Cuenca was waiting on the touchline.
Premier League rules were changed before the 2024-25 season and state that should a player need to leave the field for treatment on a suspected head injury, he must remain off for a minimum of 30 seconds after play has restarted.
“We conceded a goal when the game was completely under control, and I really believe that at that moment we should not have been playing with 10 men,” said Silva.
“Football is to be played 11 against 11. We cannot be always calling the medical stuff when it’s not necessary to do it.
“I told the official because it’s happening too often. I think they should review that they should analyse that.”
Before the start of the current season, the regulations on treatment of suspected head injuries was changed to read:
“Where a player has a suspected head injury and the referee stops the game, the official will immediately signal for a doctor or physio to enter the pitch in order to promote player welfare. The player will need to leave the pitch for further assessment and remain on the touchline for a minimum 30 seconds after play has restarted.”
At a pre-season briefing, Howard Webb, Chief Refereeing Officer for Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), stated that the rules were aimed both at improving player welfare and preventing gamesmanship.
“What we’ve said this year is that if a player presents the signs to the referee of having a potential head injury, usually that will be because the player goes down holding their head,” Webb said.
“If the referee decides to stop the game mainly because of concerns around it being a head injury or potential head, then we’ll get the doctor or a physio on straight away.
“We want to make sure the player gets assistance if they’ve got a genuine head injury, but also there was some feeling as well that too many times, players were going down holding their heads. The game was then being interrupted as a result of that and the player was absolutely fine.
“That’s to protect a player safety, but also hopefully it’ll deter people from potentially gaming it a little bit by getting the game stopped.”
