By “blood rule” I mean some sort of rule about injuries. When I was in high school I played for a co-ed rec softball league and they had what they called a “blood rule.” If you were injured at any time in such a way that you had an open wound, you had to leave the premises immediately, regardless of any first aid which may have been available. The idea was that any open wound potentially put others in danger of contracting disease. My husband was watching a boxing match the other night and the one guy was bleeding quite a bit, and it made me remember this rule. Is this a concern in professional sports? Are there any professional sports that require mandatory tests for diseases, since there is significant risk of being exposed to someone else’s fluids?
Football (soccer) and Rugby Union (and almost certainly Rugby League) in the UK (at least), have this rule, I believe for precisely the reasons you point out. Mandatory tests for disease are not compulsory, so this rule is designed to prevent the inadvertent sharing of fluids. Not all sports follow this example, though; the rules of snooker and the laws of croquet are both silent on the matter :).
Boxers, I believe, must be tested for HIV, in most fights by the major sanctioning bodies. HIV positive = lost of license for the boxer
In the USA’s National Basketball Association pro league, a player must leave the court if they are bleeding (a ref is required to suspend play).
During the 2004 playoffs pitcher Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox had surgery to keep a ruptured ankle tendon in place. The wound from the surgery visibly bled into his sock during the second game of the World Series. He wasn’t removed from the game, and I’m sure Major League Baseball has never required him to take an HIV test. The sock was donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame, where it is now part of an exhibit.
I believe Gaelic Football has a “blood substitute” rule, similar to that of Rugby Union - in that the sub doesn’t count as a normal substitution, and is replaced by the original player once they’re cleaned up and no longer bleeding.
Rugby League definitely has this - bleeding players are sent to the “blood bin” and a blood substitution is made, IIRC.
Interesting. So, so far I am seeing that some pro sports do, but hardly any that exist in the U.S.?
Was the rugby rule (and I suppose also the Gaelic Football one) introduced on the grounds of cross-contamination? Or was it mainly about the well-being of players, who are likely to want to stay on the pitch even though they are in need of medical attention? (Also a WAG that it helps protect the ruling bodies against litigation if a player has a serious brain injury which isn’t immediately apparent?)
In hockey, the ‘high-sticking’ penalty is 2:00 - but if the other player is bleeding, it’s 4:00 in the box.
Edit- I misread the OP. You weren’t asking about penalties.
Hockey doesn’t seem overly concerned about cross-contamination. You’ll see players playing with blood on their jerseys. The trainers wear gloves.
That’s right. Amatuer boxing also usually has an “AIDS Stoppage Rule” or “Blood Stoppage Rule:”
I’m pretty sure both professional basketball and football have similar rules, although I’m searching for cites now.
I know that in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals (NBA), Steve Nash had to sit out after he got smashed in the nose and was bleeding like crazy. He came back in after they stopped the bleeding and covered it up, then had to leave the game again when blood started oozing again. Then he came back in with like 10 seconds to go after they had it stopped.
Ah yes, they call that the Magic Johnson rule in the NBA.
Rugby League in Australia has a “blood bin” rule.
If a player is visably bleeding he is forced to withdraw from the active play until the blood flow can be stemmed. This withdrawal can be as simple as taking a few steps away from the area where the play is while a trainer attempts to stop the bloodflow. In severe cases, say a scalp wound, the player will be forced to leave the field entirely until the blood flow is stopped.
In a memorable incident a few years ago this led to a player who had received a cut just above his brow having the wound stapled shut, without the benefit of painkillers, right on the sideline, the stapling being broadcast by the TV station in loving close-up detail :eek:
You’re just getting mostly responses from other places.
American football and basketball will send players off for blood. Baseball doesn’t, but baseball’s not supposed to be a contact sport.
I’m pretty sure hockey does not. Stopping hockey for blood would interrupt the flow of the game.
Doesn’t come up in NASCAR or golf.
Play is definitely not stopped in NHL hockey if a player is bleeding. There’s a general rule that calls for the referee to stop play if a player is injured, but just a cut isn’t enough to trigger that.
In the NHL you are not allowed to play while bleeding. They won’t stop play just because somebody has a nick, but once play stops, he will have to leave the ice and not come back until the bleeding has been stopped. It’s rule 8.3 in this humungous PDF rulebook: http://cdn.nhl.com/rules/20062007rulebook.pdf
Same is true for the NBA, as cited under their heading “GUIDELINES FOR INFECTION CONTROL”:
http://www.nba.com/analysis/rules_n.html?nav=ArticleList.
I couldn’t find anything in the rules of baseball on this topic.
When he announced he was HIV positive, most of the players didn’t say much openly, but Karl Malone of the Jazz (my hometown team) was one of the few who was very vocal about this. Malone spend a fair amount of time bumping and getting bumped, so it would be natural for him to be concerned.
Soccer requires that a player who is bleeding be removed from the field until the bleeding is stopped. Once stopped, he can be waived back onto the field. During the time it takes to stanch the flow, the team plays down a player (or, if they prefer, they can, of course, substitute for him).
Anecdotally it seems pretty clear that the various mixed martial arts leagues don’t have such a rule. MMA fighters routinely get cut and the fights aren’t stopped unless the cut is such that it impedes the ability of the fighter to fight.