Safeword (sports)

A safeword, as used in sports, is a code word used by a player to avoid impending injury.

This article is about the use of safewords in contact sports. For their use in BDSM, see Safeword. For the television game show, see Safeword (game show).

In certain contact sports such as rugby and professional wrestling, when a player feels an opposing player's actions will lead to him- or herself being seriously injured, he may utter a safeword which tells the opponent to stop the actions.

Professional rugby union footballers recognize the safeword "neck". This is said, during a scrum, when a player fears that his neck risks being broken. Players on both teams will recognize this and immediately release any downward pressure.

A more common example is "Matte" (pronounced "mah-teh", meaning "Wait!") in most Japanese martial arts including judo, which indicates surrender, usually due to an arm lock or a choke. In professional competition, saying "stop" or "help" does not indicate surrender and the opponent may continue combat.

During lifeguard training, the American Red Cross uses a "tap off" as a form of the safeword. If at any time one of the lifeguard trainees feels that they do not have enough oxygen to complete an underwater simulation of a rescue, that trainee should tap the other person twice to signal that the rescue has been aborted.

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