Section 15B.1; clothing and protections
Comments about this discussion:
Started
Background
The text about clothing and protections was unclear. Also, there are often discussions/issues about the particular case of the helmet.
Rule change proposition
Change
Clothing suggestions for comfort and safety:
* Short shoelaces, or laces tucked in
* Definitely no jewelry (watches, necklaces, earrings)
* No hard clothing or protection, especially above the knees.
into
Clothing and equipment must respect the dedicated section of the FIBA rules (section 4.4.2). In particular:
* No jewelry (watches, necklaces, earrings), or they must be protected.
* No hard clothing or protection, especially above the knees.
* Soft protections, including headgears, are permitted, if needed.
The Basketball Directors may exceptionally authorize exceptions with respect to the FIBA rules about personal equipment.
Justification
Initial text was mentioning « suggestions » while items were written as requirements.
In fact, Section 4.4.2 of the FIBA rules correspond quite well to what we want.
We had the explicit issue about helmets with Konstantin Antonov. After discussion with his father, soft helmets (headgears) seem to be a good solution and are officially permitted by the FIBA rules.
We do not want to be too strict and the last sentence is there for that purpose.
Comment
I really see why hard protection on hand or elbows would be dangerous, I am not sure about a helmet. I don't think it is much harder thant the head anyway. I could agree with allowing "round" helmets either soft or not. And of course, they should not mask the eyes.
Comment
I agree with Francois we should allow helmets, round helmets makes sense
Comment
Helmets is a complex subject, which was already discussed for the 2019 Rulebook.
My personnal motivation to forbid hard ones is that I think they are dangerous for the others (even if as hard as a head, it is much bigger) and for the wearer (strangulation risk). Also it may cause the wearer to take more risks, or even to use if offensively. Basketball rules allow soft helmets but not hard ones.
For the record, here are Nikolay's thoughts about this issue:
1. I can live with the current definitions, but the uncertainty of these definitions could create some misunderstanding, especially in US.
2. Forbidding helmets (or any other safety measures) creates a potential legal issue for IUF / event organizers in some countries. If an athlete gets injured while the injury could be arguably prevented by a safety measure, this individual might sue the organizers if they ban these safety measures.
3. I guess we have an XY Problem here. As far as I understood David’s explanation of the helmet ban, the goal is to reduce (intentional) use of helmets as a “weapon” against other players. If this is the actual problem, I think pedestrian basketball developed some effective tools to mitigate it. For example, NBA has flagrant fouls (1 and 2) against striking other players above shoulder area. Why don’t we extend flagrant foul rule for using helmets or any other “hard clothing or protection” as a weapon / tool against other players? We can even add a unicycle to the least. Unicycle could be quite dangerous too (I am not trying to be sarcastic here).
4. FIBA does not allow helmets. But American Football and Ice Hockey do enforce helmets. There is no single best practice in team sports in regards to helmets. Unicycle Basketball is unique enough to divert from FIBA in this aspect and allow helmets for safety reasons.
5. I would allow helmets with the following copy-paste (almost) from Unicycles requirements: In addition, the helmets must not have sharp or protruding parts anywhere that might cause injuries.
Comment
from my experience the risk of injury from not wearing a helmet seems much higher than the risk of injury from the helmet (I have seen helmets prevent serious injury, I have never seen an injury caused by a helmet).
Comment
I agree with Josh and would allow round helmets, soft or hard. This rule will apply to very few people anyway.
Comment
Since I am certainly not a basketball expert, I can contribute the view of an outsider: From my point of view, it makes sense to allow helmets, round helmets certainly make sense, in any case they should not have any edges or “attachments” that pose a particular danger to others. I can't really say whether hard or only soft helmets should be allowed. I think soft ones would certainly be a good compromise before none at all are allowed.
Comment
I agree, helmets are a very important safety issue for riders who wear them, as they may have medical reason for needing them. In team sports, they rarely are mis-used nor create a safety concern for other riders not wearing them.