The Blood rule is a rule used in many sports that states that an athlete that receives an open wound, is bleeding, or who has blood on them or their clothes, must immediately leave the playing area to receive medical attention. Though they may be able to play again later, they cannot go back and play again until the wound is taken care of, bleeding has stopped, and all contaminated equipment has been replaced.
The main concern addressed by this rule is the spread of infectious diseases like Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Hepatitis, and other diseases that can be spread through the contact of blood.
Before this rule was enforced, the chance of spreading diseases through blood to teammates of the injured player, the opposing team, the officials, and even the injured player himself/herself in some cases where it could be spread through contact of saliva, mucus, or blood from another injured player, was great since an injured player's wound may have ended up touching all the other players by the end of the game as the player would continue playing unless they were bleeding enough for them to possibly die from a loss of a blood.
Though there are two options that can be chosen: The first option is that the player be substituted and play resumes, or the official can halt play until the player has returned, the former being the most commonly chosen. In the National Rugby League, the latter option in first employed; play stops whilst the player's medical staff attends to the wound. If the bleeding is not staunched to the referee's satisfaction, the player must then leave the field for further attention.
If a player refuses to leave even though an official requests they do so this occurs, the official will stop play, and if the player continues to stay after play has ceased, the official will enforce the rules for accompanying league, which may include forfeiture of the game.
Some sports where this is used are Australian Rules Football, NCAA Baseball, and many major American sports leagues like the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, and Major League Soccer.
Famous quotes containing the words blood and/or rule:
“His [O.J. Simpson’s] supporters lined the freeway to cheer him on Friday and commentators talked about his tragedy. Did those people see the photographs of the crime scene and the great blackening pools of blood seeping into the sidewalk? Did battered women watch all this on television and realize more vividly than ever before that their lives were cheap and their pain inconsequential?”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)