[B]Tourny ref broke my teamates leg[/B]

[.68bruise]

I have been holding on to this for few weeks now.
I played in a rookie 5 man tournament at a maryland field a few weeks ago. The rules were nppl and all rookie teams had to be complete novices with no prior tournament experience. One of our teammates could not make it so we just picked up a walk on who had little pball experience. During our second game his gun broke so he set it down and ran for the flag. I think the rule is that moving six feet from your gun eliminates you but being new to the sport he wasn't aware. He was almost at the flag when a ref tackled him and broke his ankle!
What do you guys think about this?

[WingMan13]

Why the hell would the reff tackle him!?

[Glickman]

as long as your friend was going after a flag, and not trying to hurt someone else, thats battery.

sure as hell press charges, do it before the statue of limitations, why would you wait? if you do persue, then that looks worse, should file withen 24 hours unless not physically able.

[shartley]

The field is liable for that injury (if things happened as posted). That is not normal procedure. Refs should never touch a player unless it is to protect themselves or other players. And on the same note, players should NEVER touch a Ref.

In the situation you just described it would have been just as easy to let the player know by yelling at them or getting in their way… or even AFTER they grabbed the flag. There is no excuse to tackle a player who is not endangering another player (or Ref).

[professor_chaos]

What he said ^^^^^ That's just crazy.

[.68bruise]

I did not actually see it happen. Paul, who's ankle was broken, said he was tackled. The owner of the field said that the ref mistakenly collided with Paul while trying to remove his armband.
As far as legal action goes that is up to Paul.

[Glickman]

in all seriousness, he better be suing...

as far as i know legally, refs arent police officers, its not their legal job to prevent people from injury, therefor tackling someone because hes gonna hit someone is battery, but this is just stupid.

dont let this idiot of a ref think what he did was right, shove a cochran up his ***

[Miscue]

Get him!

[nameless143]

shove a cochran up his ***

Dude, Cochran died.. :cry:

[.68bruise]

Why the hell would the reff tackle him!?

I guss to keep him from getting points for the pull.

[mag88888]

wow! i hav never heard of something like this. make sure you have the true story though. if it happend as posted then id be pressing charges or atleast something. talk to more witnesses. tell us what happened for sure. more details........

[Lohman446]

The rules on physical contact are explicit in paintball... there is none and that goes both ways. Refs may get some leniency if trying to stop something like an assault...

That being said its a matter of if it was intentional (as one side states) or accidental (as the field owner states). Either way it was an action of his ref, and I beleive someone should be held accountable for it - at least for civil issues (doctor bills)

[.68bruise]

wow! i hav never heard of something like this. make sure you have the true story though. if it happend as posted then id be pressing charges or atleast something. talk to more witnesses. tell us what happened for sure. more details........
The whole thing is messed up. We had just meet this guy, played in one full game and a few minutes of the 2nd when this happened. The game played on while he rolled around in pain on the 50. We ended up winning and he was carried off the field and went to the hospital. Our capt. got his phone number but i think he lost it. I will be playing at the field tommorow and see what I can find out.

[Duzzy]

This situation just plain stinks.

If he sues, whether right or wrong it will hurt the feild, and that is never a good thing from a player perspective.

If the ref intentionally tackled him then the ref should be held responsible.

If it was an accident, then maybe the ref should help pay, but by playing paintball you take certain risks. Hurting yourself is one of these risks.

Now what I am worried is that the whole thing was an accident, but the other player doesn't want to admit it. By blaming the ref not only can he avoid all responsibility but he doesn't look like an idiot either.

I don't know the guy, I won't judge him. But in current day America the last scenario is the one I think is most likely.

Either way, be careful, and do the right thing.

[Glickman]

This situation just plain stinks.

If he sues, whether right or wrong it will hurt the feild, and that is never a good thing from a player perspective.
If the ref intentionally tackled him then the ref should be held responsible.
If it was an accident, then maybe the ref should help pay, but by playing paintball you take certain risks. Hurting yourself is one of these risks.
Now what I am worried is that the whole thing was an accident, but the other player doesn't want to admit it. By blaming the ref not only can he avoid all responsibility but he doesn't look like an idiot either.
I don't know the guy, I won't judge him. But in current day America the last scenario is the one I think is most likely.
Either way, be careful, and do the right thing.

im really starting to hate this mindset... afraid of hurting "paintball" by suing a field? please. thats all we need, player deaths and injuries due to a poor field administration. im not saying that it was the fields fault, but they SHOULD take responsibility as well as the ref.

If a worker at a gas station creates a fire, yes, hell be in trouble, but so will the company.

It SHOULD hurt the field. they are the ones who hired him.

one of the risks you assume by playing paintball is getting hit with a paintball, or even getting shot in the eye, blinding you, not getting senslessly tackled by a degenerate ref

[Duzzy]

im really starting to hate this mindset... afraid of hurting "paintball" by suing a field? please. thats all we need, player deaths and injuries due to a poor field administration. im not saying that it was the fields fault, but they SHOULD take responsibility as well as the ref.

If a worker at a gas station creates a fire, yes, hell be in trouble, but so will the company.

It SHOULD hurt the field. they are the ones who hired him.

one of the risks you assume by playing paintball is getting hit with a paintball, or even getting shot in the eye, blinding you, not getting senslessly tackled by a degenerate ref

I never said the feild shouldn't take responsibility. I think they should, I just think it sucks as a player when a feild goes out of business. I don't think I mentioned being afraid of hurting the feild, if they deserve it I will go after them, or encourage someone else to. But as a player it isn't fun when feilds close down whether they deserve it or not. Assumptions are not your friend. ;)

And how exactly do we know the ref tackled him? Did anyone see it? Can you honestly sit here and say that it was the ref and that the player isn't making something up to cover his own butt? I don't think you can.

[68magOwner]

i think he shouldnt have left his gun, thats what i think

[wanna-b-ballin']

If it was an accident, then maybe the ref should help pay, but by playing paintball you take certain risks. Hurting yourself is one of these risks.

if the story is true, he did not hurt himself, the ref did.

it does suck that he got tackled, its happened to me.
he's lucky he didn't have his gun with him when he got tackled, like what happened to me.
i was tackled by someone i shot out and the feedneck on my gun snapped off, the back of my head hurt for a while, and my mask came off.
some pretty words came out of me and the whole field heard it and the guy got kicked out.
and so i could play, the field gave me the feedneck from one of their rental guns that fit my gun.
physical contact in paintball is defenately not allowed.

[JimmyBeam]

wow......im kind of lost for words. ive never heard of something like this before

[Kevmaster]

Accident or not...the field still owes him money

[Duzzy]

if the story is true, he did not hurt himself, the ref did.


The key word is "if". The original poster stated that he didn't see it. So the problem is that know one here knows if it really was the refs fault.

It will be an even bigger problem if it wasn't the refs fault, but the ref gets blamed for it anyways. There are people I have balled with who I would expect nothing less from.

I know a guy who borrowed a a $1500 cocker (this was a few years ago) and dropped it trying to make a snake run. He blamed a guy across the feild for shooting him and making him drop it.

My point is, this needs to be handled carefully, and no assumptions should be made.

[thecavemankevin]

well, the guy should look into fileing charges if he feels he was wronged. this being a tournament there likely would have been multiple wittnesses that could either coroberate or dissprove his story of being tackled. Think about it guys, and slightly over excited likely very young ref runs to pull the guys arm band, slipps in some likely wet grass and colides with the kid. That would be my guess as to what really happened thus making it an accident. In this case the field owner likely should pay for the health bills to show good will.

but what really destirbs me is that the kid writhed in pain in the middle of the field while the game continued. there should have been an injury time and remove him from the field.