The weekend is ugly.

Here it is Thursday and I've been sending out emails begging the referees in the association to help out this weekend because there are a ton of matches (well, a ton for a dinky little community like Whatcom County) because not only is the recreation season in full swing with 140 matches on Saturday. There are six select matches on Saturday and five high school matches (only one JV match in the bunch). I still need four bodies for the select matches and one for the high school matches.

Unfortunately, Western hasn't started up yet so several of the referees who usually pick up matches for us aren't in town yet.

I did get a fun call from one of the athletic director's today concerning a player who recently decided to get a nose piercing immediately prior to the beginning of soccer season. Now, every recreational season the referees have to deal with five and six year old girls getting their ears pierced and bursting into tears when we tell them they can't play with their earrings in. And without fail a parent will go nutty cuckoo about how their little girl can't take her earrings out for six weeks and that we are bad people for not letting her play, and so and so forth. But now we have a high school player who figures the safest thing she can do for her soccer-playing self is have a piece of sharp metal in her face while on the pitch. I'd start quoting Laws or Rules of Play or some such nonsense but let's leave it with, if something is dangerous to a player or others, it is not allowed on the field. And jewelry of any kind fits into the above category.

I told the AD, while I wouldn't caution the coach (as is the high school rule) for the nose stud, I would most likely tell the young lady she had to remove it and if she refused, she wouldn't be allowed to play. That would be, of course, if I was feeling in a grumpy mood. If I was well-humored, I told him I would let her know that she could wear it as long as she understood that if she bled out on the field from a shot to the face, I would not be held responsible.

Yes, I would certainly be held accountable if the young lady suffered injury on my field from wearing such an item (if I did, in fact, see said item) and could face a lawsuit (and most likely lose). Is it worth the potentially lost house for this silly youngster to keep her uber-hip nose stud in for 90 minutes? A close call, I know, but perhaps I'll err on the side of get off my field silly young lady.

Thanks again for stopping by and reading my griping.

Jonathon