The players’ union has renewed calls for temporary concussion substitutions, saying the current protocols are “jeopardising player safety”.
Football’s lawmaker, the International Football Association Board, was urged to make changes before the season.
In a statement, the Professional Footballers’ Association said existing rules “put players at risk” in several recent incidents.
On BBC’s Match of the Day, Alan Shearer called the situation “not acceptable”.
Ifab says temporary concussion substitutions are “not foreseen at this stage” as concussion symptoms may not appear for up to 72 hours.
But Dr Adam White, head of the PFA’s brain health department, said: “Put simply, the current laws of the game are jeopardising player health and safety.
“Permanent substitutions do not allow medical teams to assess a player with a potentially serious brain injury in an appropriate environment.
“The rules, as they are, create an extremely challenging situation and offer no support to medical personnel.”
The statement also expressed alarm that Uefa is yet to integrate the existing permanent concussion substitution rules into major European competitions like the Champions League, Europa League and Nations League.
Fresh debate over head injury regulations came to the fore after Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez took a blow to the head in an accidental collision with team-mate Tyrone Mings during his side’s 4-0 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday.
The Argentine goalkeeper initially stayed on and received lengthy treatment before being replaced shortly afterwards.
The Premier League has written to Villa, asking for their observations following the incident.
“He should be able to go off and be assessed for 10 minutes and the subs should be able to come on, and that [Martinez going down a second time] is what happens 10 minutes later,” Shearer said.
“If he goes off and he’s assessed, there’s no way that he’s allowed back on the field of play, like he is in this instance. It shouldn’t happen. They’re failing players by not allowing temporary substitutions to come on.”
In December 2020, Ifab invited competitions to take part in a trial of permanent concussion substitutions and they were introduced in the Premier League in February 2021.
The rule allows for a permanent substitution to be made if a player suffers a head injury – regardless of the number of replacements a team has already used.
While it was viewed as a step forward in the sport’s battle against neurogenerative disease, the option to temporarily replace players while they undergo a head injury assessment is still unavailable.
