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[Netherscourge]

Ban tackle football.

Two-hand touch or flag football is the only safe football.

Sorry. You want tackle football without risk of injury? Play Madden.

 

[GK86]

Time for robot football.

 

[Hyun Sai]

I tried Rugby and Boxing once as a child. That was a big "nope". I sticked to Basketball.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

This.

My daughters love football and want to play it but id never let that happen. I explained to them that it hurts their brains (4 and 5 y/o) but they don't understand why adults play it. I just explained it like I did beer or cigarettes (it's an adult choice you can make when you grow up and finish school).

Also should've been that adults aren't infallible and make bad choices all the time. Like young kids or teens, we feel the need to impress others and cave to peer pressure. That don't suddenly change when one reaches adulthood.

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

Ive seen studies where children get more concussions from soccer (heading the ball) than football in the States. Why hasnt heading the ball been banned or labeled child abuse?

 

[LosDaddie]

Only reasonable solution is to ban all physical sports.

This is eSports' chance!

 

[JustenP88]

Basketball will take over America.

Basketball will take over the world.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Only reasonable solution is to ban all physical sports.

This is eSports' chance!

You'll be surprised by the rise of finger hand wrist problems afterwards ^^ But at least it won't be the brain ?

 

[Netherscourge]

Any sport that involves you hitting your head against anyone or anything is a risk to your long term health.

Ice Hockey is next.

 

[Mark L]

No way are my kids playing this sport.

 

[Gutek]

Agree. That’s why I’m boycotting the NFL, too.

 

[witness]

Scary stuff, I will not let my 9 year old play that's for sure.

 

[BHK3]

Playing football period will give you problems. You do NOT have to use your head to get CTE, giant men running at each other with armour and getting tackled normally will hurt your brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdyLK0ZqFks

 

[LiquidSolid]

I'd be interested in how the statistics compares to rugby. I'm unfamiliar with NFL, is the helmets and the heads banging around in them is what causes the concussions? Cause surely players are hitting each other as hard in rugby, but not having as much concussions? Or am I wrong on rugby being less dangerous?

It's hard to say because they're different sports. American Football players throw their bodies around recklessly, which is probably a much greater risk of concussion than a rugby tackle. But one rugby game can have hundreds of tackles, not to mention mauls and rucks.

Concussions happen somewhat often in rugby. It's been particularly noticeable recently because a) World Rugby started cracking down on concussions a few years ago (if a player takes a knock to the head, they'll be sent off the field and have to pass a strict test to get back on) and b) The game has only grown faster and harder over the last few years. There's still a lot of work to do and they're trying to change the laws to make it safer but it's a work in progress. Personally, I think all tackles above the chest should be banned, mauls should be thrown out and rucks cleaned up.

Anyway, do you guys have touch rules for kids? That's what happens with rugby here. All kids start with what's basically touch rugby, then tackling is slowly introduced as they grow older and even then, tackles above the chest are banned. There's plenty of arguments out there that say it actually produces better players and is one of the main reasons why NZ rugby is so dominant, as it puts all the emphasis on basic skills at an early age.

 

[Eidan]

Well yeah. But hey, I guess there's a limit to a lot of parents' love.

 

[Sain Drevia]

I played from 5th grade through college at a top 25 Division III school and this doesn't change my opinion one bit. There is nothing like playing the game of football despite the risks. Did I get banged up at times, yeah, but I always knew that I could get hurt playing.

Humans engage in risky behavior all of the time. The reward for me always outweighed that risk. And before anyone asks, no, I never had any illusions of playing the game professionally. Once I played that last game back in the winter of 2009, I walked off of the field with no regrets.

If I ever have a son, I won't push the game on him, but I certainly won't try to prevent him from playing either.

 

[Strictly]

Basketball will take over America.

Basketball will take over the world.

Nah, its too exclusive due to the height barrier. Not every kid can play and harbour unrealistic dreams of making it professionally. With football (soccer), you can go up all the way to 16 and still think you can be a big football star. Its the fact just about anyone can play that makes it successful from a viewership take - as most viewers have played it and have that personal experience with the sport.

 

[thehypocrite]

Ive seen studies where children get more concussions from soccer (heading the ball) than football in the States. Why hasnt heading the ball been banned or labeled child abuse?

Look at all this whataboutism!!! You should make a thread about that instead.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Ive seen studies where children get more concussions from soccer (heading the ball) than football in the States. Why hasnt heading the ball been banned or labeled child abuse?

Heading has been banned for young players per USSF rules.

 

[sikkinixx]

The amount of students I see in my classes with concussions is mind blowing. Soccer, cheer, hockey and football are the worst for it. At one point this past school year I had 6 students in one history class with notes from doctors with a concussion diagnosis. One kid has had four diagnosed concussions at 15 years old. I can't believe her parents let her continue to be on the cheer squad. Crazy.

My kid can play table tennis if he wants to play a sport competitively.

 

[cr0w]

If I had kids, I'd damn sure encourage them to give baseball a try. Some of the best times of my life were spent in that game, and there's much less risk of serious, lasting trauma barring a freak accident.

It can be a LOT harder to excel at, though, and that keeps a lot of people from staying in it.

 

[Kite]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ol-sports-study-finds/?utm_term=.3fe899717669

Female athletes, in particular soccer players, suffer concussions at a “significantly higher” rate than their male counterparts, according to a study released this month by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

In matched sports, girls were 12.1 percent more likely to sustain a concussion than boys, according to the report, which tracked concussions in a sport relative to total number of injuries from 2005 to 2015 using the High School Reporting Information Online injury surveillance system. In basketball, for example, concussions only accounted for 8.8 percent of boys’ injuries, but 25.6 percent of girls’ injuries.

“The neck muscles of girls just aren’t as developed as boys are,” said Wellington Hsu, one of the study’s authors and a professor of orthopedic surgery at Northwestern. “So if girls experience an impact, it makes sense they might be affected by it more than boys if they don’t have the muscles to cushion that impact.”

The results showed a striking gender-based difference in the incidents of concussion. Football, a sport most typically associated with brain injury but also has a high number of total injuries due to its being a collision sport, was fourth on the list of concussion as a percentage of total injuries, behind girls’ soccer, girls’ volleyball and girls’ basketball.

“We were surprised at how the incidence of concussions particularly in girls over the past five years has increased,” Hsu said. “And we found that sports that weren’t typically linked to concussion are actually quite risky.”

The study’s authors attribute that increased risk to a lack of protective equipment available for female athletes and an increased emphasis on physical play. In soccer specifically, the authors cite a potential increase in headers, and wrote, “It remains unclear why boys soccer players do not appear to have the same risk as girls.”

“We’ve seen a lot of data come out of women’s soccer that shows the women may very well be playing harder than the men,” said Geoff Manley, chief of neurosurgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and co-director of the Brain and Spinal Injury Center at the University of California-San Francisco.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I'd be interested in how the statistics compares to rugby. I'm unfamiliar with NFL, is the helmets and the heads banging around in them is what causes the concussions? Cause surely players are hitting each other as hard in rugby, but not having as much concussions? Or am I wrong on rugby being less dangerous?

Your brain is like a pudding inside a bowl of water. When you cover the bowl strong enough and smash it against a wall it won't brake but the pudding will still smash against the inside of that bowl. Sometimes even multiple times. Thus damaging the pudding.
To be precise: Those helmets just keep the players from cuts, bruises and breaking their skull. When they use their head as a ram it won't do any protection to the brain itself.


On the game itself: With that much money involved in NFL and college football I highly doubt that they will change anything that keeps them from making money.

 

[Yaboosh]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ol-sports-study-finds/?utm_term=.3fe899717669

Looking at it as a proportion of injuries doesn't seem like the right way to go. A simple rate seems more useful.

 

[Master Yoshi]

Never going to let my kids play any hard contact sports.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

No argument here.

 

[friskykillface]

And tennis!

Tennis elbow = RIP


I'd let my kids play anything except football, hockey or rugby

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

Fuck school football. Even outside of the excessive risk of physical harm there's way too much bullshit going on there on all levels of education.

Honestly, I don't even like school sports at all. School should be about academics. Linking sports causes more problems than it's worth.

 

[Yopis]

My enjoyment of the sport has gone down to not really caring anymore. Flawed sport built around commercials with a plantation vibe.

Let it die. Hoops is better anyway or soccer.

 

[Emperor_Uriel]

I doubt school football is going anywhere. Here's the dark reality: Plenty of shitty parents don't care about abuse if it leads to the possibility of fame and fortune.

They'll ignore physical abuse if it leads to a scholarship (young athletes destroying their bodies).
They'll ignore emotional/mental abuse if it gets their kid into a top college (high suicide rate among overachieving students).
They'll ignore sexual abuse if it gets their kid connected with a star or celebrity (innumerable Hollywood sex scandals).

What we need is more widespread education on parenting, and a total re-evaluation of the ways we push our kids to succeed at all costs.

 

[PadWarrior]

My enjoyment of the sport has gone down to not really caring anymore. Flawed sport built around commercials with a plantation vibe.

Let it die. Hoops is better anyway or soccer.

After all the studies I've lost interest as well. Especially since I have kids and don't want them playing this. And hearing all the stories from former players makes me sad.

 

[nocturnalis]

Ya, getting rid of helmets would probably go some way in lessening how the players use their heads as tackling instruments (which is still insane to me).

It'll never happen, but would be an interesting experiment.

You do know that rugby players get concussions, right?

 

[Fulminator]

What exactly do you think the helmets do?

The helmets are a big part of the problem

 

[Mammoth Jones]

I wouldn't let my kid play that shit. But then again it breaks my heart seeing so many children in my community believe that's the only realistic path to achieving anything substantial in their lives.

But if he or she really wants to play I'd definitely let them do touch football or soccer but contact football? I've had two concussions playing and they suck. But I will admit being that a lineman was fun as shit. The comradery. Even when we lost. But then again I'm 37 with a metal hip.

No. Don't think I'll advise my kid to play.

 

[KernelPanic]

I'd add ice hockey to that list.

Gonna be a problem up here in Canada, where pretty much every kid dreams of playing

 

[Veitsev]

Hockey can still survive with no contact tho. Maybe even thrive cause it would mean more open ice and more skill plays. The core of the game doesn't require people slamming into each other.

 

[Yaboosh]

Hockey can still survive with no contact tho. The core of the game doesn't require people slamming into each other.

There are hockey fans that will argue that fucking fighting is core to the game.

 

[Veitsev]

There are hockey fans that will argue that fucking fighting is core to the game.

Those people are neanderthals though and no matter how stupid they are fighting is being slowly phased out.

 

[sans_pants]

The sooner football dies the better

 

[Rumblebones]

I wouldn't let my kid play. But then I'd be all for then learning martial arts so that's a tad hypocritical.

Baseball is the bed game anyway.

 

[tmarg]

I'd be interested in how the statistics compares to rugby. I'm unfamiliar with NFL, is the helmets and the heads banging around in them is what causes the concussions? Cause surely players are hitting each other as hard in rugby, but not having as much concussions? Or am I wrong on rugby being less dangerous?

Blocking and forward passes are illegal in rugby, which means that players aren't usually running full speed towards each other when contact occurs. Changing those rules would do the most to reduce head injuries, but would also fundamentally change the game and likely reduce viewership.

 

[friskykillface]

The sooner football dies the better

Rise of flag football is upon us

 

[Future]

Really tough. American football is super popular. You could remove it from high school, but it's not going anywhere in college / NFL. But you know it damages everyone involved, but it's so popular no one cares

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

Definitely wouldn't let my kids (if I ever have any) play football, but it's kind of hard to give up watching it. It's probably the one thing that brings all of my old college roommates together. Personally I'd rather watch basketball though.

 

[Lubricus]

Really tough. American football is super popular. You could remove it from high school, but it's not going anywhere in college / NFL. But you know it damages everyone involved, but it's so popular no one cares

Middle school and high school football are basically training facilities for college football which is a training facility for the NFL/CFL/European tackle football league.

 

[CrunchyFrog]

Rise of flag football is upon us

Said it before and I'll say it again, tackle football will be banned for minors within a decade or two (or at least school-associated football), and the NFL as we know it will follow suit within another 20 years once the player pool dries up. It is absolutely irresponsible parenting just based on what we already know.

 

[ibrahima]

I wouldn't be surprised if Rugby isn't all that much safer. It's not the spearing/highlight reel hits in footballthat are the biggest concerns with regards to CTE, it's the continuous accumulation of collisions, the shit that happens in the trenches most often that nobody even cares about, that is probably the most dangerous. Humans crashing into other humans over and over is just not good for the brain/body, and there likely isn't any way to ever change that.

Really need to keep coming back to this every time CTE comes up, it's not just the big hits that cause the problem. That's why it is such a big deal and why American Football as a sport is effectively fucked based on how the modern game is played.

Other sports have similar problems (heading the ball in football/soccer, clashes and fights in ice hockey, bumps in pro wrestling) which clearly need attention as well. Repeated sub-concussion injuries leave people with CTE and it is because they are treated as no big deal.

 

[Violence Jack]

I played from the age of 10 all the way up to my freshman year of college when my knee got torn to shreds. I had fun, but thinking back on it, it was not worth the head and memory issues I've had come from it. The biggest issue to me is the helmets. We barely had enough air in them, so when we got clocked, we usually got concussed most of the time. Nothing was ever done about it though. Head hits need to be removed from practices, proper tackling techniques should be taught (hit with your shoulder, wrap them up, and drive the person back) and result in an immediate ejection if it happens during games. I won't let my kid play football until some MAJOR changes are made.

 

[yuoke]

Ban tackle football.

Two-hand touch or flag football is the only safe football.

Sorry. You want tackle football without risk of injury? Play Madden.

The NFL is already becoming that with rules and flags thrown every two seconds.

The sooner football dies the better

Not going to happen for a very long time.

 

[johnny956]

Heading has been banned for young players per USSF rules.

Yup many younger leagues in my area have banned heading. Eventually it'll just stop being used as much in the older leagues because of it