In a tough match against Chelsea, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique took a shot to the head from the keeper that resulted in immediate Fencing Response. (Video below, sorry for the music all I could find)
Not only was he removed from the game the club has taken a stance that I feel all professional clubs should take with ANY concussion, not only the ones resulting in obvious signs like the Fencing Response;
Barcelona says Pique has improved and he was discharged from a local hospital on Wednesday after remaining overnight. The Spanish champions will evaluate his condition after one week before deciding when the Spain international returns to action.
That is correct you read it right; ALL professional teams should sit their players for one week before making a decision on return-to-play. We all know that the NFL would have a HUGE problem with this – too bad – you miss “a” game to recover; that is a heck of a trade-off if it means that the player will be much safer and less likely to sue you in the future.
NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, FIFA, and the rest of the alphabet soup of professional sports pull up your big boy pants and set the ABSOLUTE minimum standard of care for the rest of the sporting world to follow. Maybe then the college, adolescent and youth participants will finally take notice!
It seems I will be editing this post… Apparently the evaluation and the fact that he played for a few minutes after needs the proper attention…
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/04/24/pique.concussion.ap/index.html?eref=si_soccer
“Barcelona says Pique suffered a light concussion.”
What exactly is a “light” concussion?
He actually played several minutes afterwards before being subbed off. This was after he was clearly unconscious on the pitch. Had he been unconscious in an NHL/NFL contest, do you think he would be allowed to stay in the game afterward? I think that should be highlighted within the blog as well.