As another college football season swings into high gear, most of the media and public attention will be directed at won-lost records, conference standings, longstanding rivalries and the pageantry involved in the 134-year old sport.

Administrators, coaches and athletic trainers, however, know how much work must be done before any action takes place on the field. They must address a myriad of details, from securing and training game-management personnel such as ball persons and scoreboard operators, to making sure that players' uniforms comply with the rules.

One of the items on that uniform-compliant checklist that is quite possibly the least recognized by spectators, and is sometimes overlooked by institutions, is that eye shields attached to helmets must be clear, unless an exception for a non-transparent shield has been approved by the NCAA.

The NCAA Football Rules Committee enacted a rule in 1998 that says eye shields, if worn, must be clear. The addition was made, in large part, from concern expressed by the athletic training community that medical personnel need to be able to see the eyes of players, especially those with possible head and neck injuries, to thoroughly assess their conditions.

During the 1998 season, several institutions with student-athletes whom they felt had valid reasons to wear tinted shields, objected to the new rule. Consequently, the committee added an exception the next year for non-transparent shields, provided a request was filed and approved by the NCAA.

"The committee recognized the need for an exception process for players with legitimate eye ailments or injuries," said Bryan Smith, head team physician at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and medical liaison to the committee. "Admittedly, it is another responsibility for sports medicine staffs with such student-athletes to deal with, but it is not one that should take many hours to complete."

Most requests accepted

Institutions must contact the NCAA national office to receive a one-page request form. The completed request, which must include a doctor's diagnosis and signature, is reviewed by a medical doctor designated by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.

"The process to apply for an exception is not difficult at all," said Keith Clements, football athletic trainer at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. "The form is simple and straight-forward."

Clements requested and was granted exceptions for two players to wear non-transparent shields this year. He said he was approached by several more players who wanted to wear the shields.

"We want to work within, but not abuse, the structure that the rules committee has in place," he said. "The coaching and sports medicine staffs talked as a group, and decided only to seek exceptions for those players who truly need them."

There has been a steady increase in the number of requests since the exception was added to the rule. In 1999, there were 18 requests made, of which 16 were approved.

The number of requests rose to 43 in 2000, with 40 approvals. Last year, 57 players were granted exceptions out of 65 applications.

As of September 5, the 2002 count is 61 approvals and 20 denials. The numbers in both categories will rise throughout the season, as players suffer injuries that may necessitate a tinted shield. In addition, there are occasions when institutions that have not had a player who needed a non-transparent shield since the 1998 rule and 1999 exception were enacted, have to be alerted to the process by game officials.

While the number of requests increases, those totals still represent a tiny percentage of NCAA football players. According to the 1982-2001 NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Report, 56,804 student-athletes were included on squad lists for the 2000 season.

Stricter rule in high school

Smith noted that it is difficult to categorize exception requests that will gain instant approval or denial. "However, any athlete who has undergone eye surgery or suffered eye trauma recently is likely to receive an exception.

"On the other hand, simply stating that an athlete is photosensitive will probably result in a denial. Everyone's eyes are affected in some way by the sun or bright lights, so a request has to include some medical assessment of the symptoms triggered by the exposure."

In all cases, an institution that has a request denied is invited to submit it again with additional information that may be beneficial to the reviewer.

For several reasons, there are
no exceptions to transparent eye shields permitted under the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). "A large majority of high-school games are played at night, many of them at fields and stadiums without optimal lighting," said Jerry Diehl, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the organization's football rules committee.

There were more than 1,050,000 students who participated in high-school football during the 2001-02 academic year.

"The number of requests resulting from a population of that size would likely overwhelm a national clearinghouse, and it would be extremely difficult to ensure that requests were being handled consistently by the state associations," Diehl said.

Diehl added that tinted eyeglasses are not restricted by the NFHS rules, and can be removed easily should the eyes need to be examined.

Smith believes the number of requests for non-transparent shields will continue to increase, but not to a point that the exception will be jeopardized. "As long as institutions police themselves, I believe the workload for the national office staff and the reviewer will remain manageable," Smith said.