Sorry for the long post...All I can say is wow on that slide into the keeper...from the image it looks card worthy.
What I find pretty ironic is that this game the kids play is supposed to be a "non-contact" sport....this thread is on head gear, and we are now talking about knees, protection, etc., the mobs on corner kicks, the jostling, holding, grabbing, poking, and pulling. Not just just keeper, but all players need to know how to protect themselves on the field. What I am noticing about my DD's team and those she plays against, currently u13, is that the games are getting more and more physical all the way around. Some teams are more physical than others. Over the past year and a half I have seen my DD's team learn to be more physical in order to be able to compete. I think there is a fine line between being physical and competing and what some may consider dirty or dangerous...it depends on which sideline you are on. I have seen some rough fouls over the last couple of years, but nothing that I would consider being done with the specific intent to harm or purposefully injure the other player. I've seen kids cry when they took a player down and realized they may have hurt the other kid. I have seen purposeful fouls, but nothing that screamed at me that one kid was going after another to specifically hurt them. The worst I have seen in the last year, was an opposing player pull one of our girls down by her hair when she was beat. Our sideline went nuts. Did the kid mean to pull her down, I would say yes. Did she mean to pull her down by her hair, or was she grabbing for the shirt and got the hair instead...Who know's....I just find it hard to believe that at 10, 11, or 12 year old kid would intentionally try to injure another player. If so, there are other things going on.
At the end of the day nobody wants their kid to get hurt by a dangerous play or see a kid get intentionally injured. I agree, the ref's can't see everything. There is also a difference between kids playing physical, competing, and wanting to win versus being overly aggressive and playing dangerously. Some of that can be managed by a good coach not allowing that type of play and parents not rewarding or promoting that style of play. If I saw my kid go out and intentionally try to injure another kid she would need to worry about a lot more than a foul call or a card by the ref.
I agree with what many have said that in order to change the physical play the rules need to change, or how the rules are interpreted needs to be standardized. Neither is simple, easy, and hopefully it will happen while our kids are still playing.