Earrings in kids grassroots football

[Lok1983]

Hi all I’m looking for some advice,

my daughter (11) has been playing in a grassroots club for the last 3 years. During this time she has been taping her stud earrings during matches. The club are now saying she can’t play anymore matches until they are removed as the FA are clamping down on jewellery and all items must be removed for health and safety reasons. I totally understand this and appreciate the need for it. However, removing them is not that simple as my daughter has Sensory Processing Disorder and struggles with the idea and so she has had to quit playing. I was thinking of trying to fight this as I find it unfair she has to remove them but children are allowed to wear glasses (they’re supposed to wear prescription goggles but it isn’t enforced) surely glasses are also a safety hazard with the ball flying around?

I don't mean to sound bitter and I’m not saying children who wear glasses shouldn’t be allowed to play I just think both boil down to a medical condition but are not treated equally.

Should I just walk away with my devastated daughter or question it?

thanks

Fight it by all means but don’t compare to glasses. Glasses are needed for a medical condition but earrings are a personal choice.

The difference with glasses is that you need them to see. No-one needs to wear earrings.
She’ll get used to taking them out.

The difference will be that glasses have a practical use where as earrings are completely decorative.

You could ask for an exception due to her processing disorder.

What is the specific issue with removing? Can you do it at home before she arrives at football? Stop wearing earrings?

DDs Sports goggles cost over a hundred pounds (£175 I think) and she needs them as she plays rugby. They are not available on the NHS. Football is not a contact sport and they are at far less risk than they would be to someone playing rugby.

You cannot compare the two situations. Your daughter's piercings were a choice. Her SPD cannot be that severe if she had them done in the first place - that will be the argument that will be returned to you.

Glasses are necessary. Earrings are a body modification. Two totally different things.
Also if someone wearing glasses gets hit by the ball - most likely the glasses will get knocked off/broken - unlikely to damage anyone I would think (Ive been wearing glasses for 45 years) If earrings get caught........ that could lead to an ear lobe being ripped? Major damage.

Two totally different things and not suitable for comparison I dont think. As a parent Id be encouraging her to continue to play sport and ditch the earrings.

Just get rid of the earrings. If football is that important to her, that should come first. Plenty of time when she is older to get them re pierced.

Can she leave them out rather than give up football? It seems a shame to choose jewellery over sport at that age.

No that is not reasonable. Surely you only need to remove them once and leave them out? If she develops an infection she unfortunately wouldn't have a choice.

You can try to fight it, but you won't win. The FA has a strict no jewellery policy, which is being enforced this season. There are no exceptions.

Oh dear. What a thoroughly self-centred and entitled post.

Get rid of the earring if you want her to play football, no one needs earrings including your daughter. She'll have to take them off in secondary for PE anyway.

Children who need glasses have no choice.

Seriously 😬

my daughter has Sensory Processing Disorder and struggles with the idea

What precisely does she struggle with?

If she can get her ears pierced, she can surely take them out?! Even if just for the game. At 11, surely a small amount of discomfort can be managed. She will need to learn as she gets older that she cannot just not do something because she struggles with it. That's not real life!

You need to make her see that removing her earrings for a couple of hours a day is no hardship. If it really is too much for her to bare then I'd imagine she might struggle with other aspects of the very competitive and sometimes quite ruthless world of football, even at kids level. But tell her it's her decision. Earrings temporarily off or no football. It might be hard for her but she needs to choose.

most kids hate having their earrings taken out the first couple of times but they get used to it. She managed to get them pierced and that would surely have been much worse. You can’t fight it or compare it to glasses at all. Earrings are a choice not a necessity. She either takes them out or she doesn’t play. Getting them ripped out during a tackle would be a far more traumatic experience than having you take them out just before a game

Could you use some numbing cream to take them out and then just leave them out?

This is a great opportunity to teach your child that she has to follow certain rules and unfortunately her sensory processing disorder does not and never will trump people’s health and safety.
What would your stance be if she wouldn’t wear a seatbelt due to her disorder?

My DD has been playing grassroots football since she was 9 now 16. I'm sure you can imagine how many piercings a girls football team has! They tend to take out the ones in the lobe but leave the helix ones and hide them behind their hair because those involve pliers to get them out usually. Not sure she's ever been checked for earrings.
Anyway, I've had enough of worrying about her getting them ripped outand ordered her some earrings for there that are easy to remove. Maybe there is something your DD can remove more easily?
I'd urge you not to let her give up the football my DD is incredibly resilient because of it and it's helped her through struggles with anxiety/exams etc

The ear rings have to come out. Sorry. It's a safety issue.

And at a certain level in contact sports they are not allowed to wear normal glasses and have to wear the safety goggles.

So don't compare to glasses.

I sympathise (sensitive household here!) but if your DD wants to keep her earrings then she will need to learn to take them in and out.
Or not wear them.

This is a reason why ours kids are not permitted to have ear rings until they are older - so they can be in charge of them and I won't have to get involved in ear management

Good luck. Hope you and she can make a plan.

Is she bothered about the holes closing if she takes them out for a game? It can be hard to get a stud back in even after that short time, that's why most sports allow earrings to be taped.

Could she practise taking the metal earrings out and replacing them with silicon retainers? They are just about invisible, soft and would pull out on contact, especially if you snipped the part that pushes onto the back.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BJJCWCPC/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw

She could leave them in until she felt able to wear the metal ones again.

Surely she must have changed earrings before? What’s she struggling with - you could always take them out for her?

I just think both boil down to a medical condition but are not treated equally.

They are not treated equally because they are not remotely the same. It's ridiculous to suggest that earrings and glasses are comparable.

So has she never changed her earrings? And in what way does she ‘struggle’? I would not allow a child to give up sport for the sake of jewellery. Team sport offers so many benefits. Earrings are just for appearance, and aren’t even doing much there if you never change them.

My DD got her nose pierced at 16 and plays netball. She finds it really tricky to put back in again and it often bleeds. I have suggested many times to get rid of the nose stud but I’d never tell her to stop playing netball. She’s had it 2 years now and it is getting easier to put back in.

Earrings out. Simple.

I'm shocked and disgusted at your viewpoint. Why don't you deal with your dd's issue at root cause rather than looking to attack FA about glasses! Take her earrings out permanently if she has a processing disorder. Medical condition? Oh purlease. Take a grip of yourself. I've never heard such rubbish.