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I'm in the US and had sort of a reckoning against out football a few years ago after a medical incident of mine. I used to be a big watcher of the NFL, mostly b

I'm in the US and had sort of a reckoning against out football a few years ago after a medical incident of mine. I used to be a big watcher of the NFL, mostly because my team was really good, but suddenly I had trouble watching week after week guys getting drilled in the head and being carted off to have their career ends. These league average numbers [1] are horrible to think about, with how little tie running backs play when they're able to make money (screw the NCAA) and they get hit every play. One of the arguments on a change that could help is a big transition back to old school leather helmets, or no helmets. There's been much talk about safety of rugby compared to football, especially from armchair thinkers [2]. Some of the answers in that Quora thread are agreeing with the result of this article, where rugby isn't exactly that much safer regardless of lack of helmet or tackling style. Heck even soccer is having to come to terms with headers causing head injuries later in life [3]. With more "lower" impact sports like rugby (not that much lower, but has been considered lower) and soccer coming out with so much head injury reports, I wonder how long we'll be stuck with popularity of the NFL. Brett Favre, a quarterback from the south, came out and said to not have kids play tackle until they're 14. But when they turn 14? It's not like that risk goes away. I'm lucky for myself that I like watching baseball and basketball the most so I don't have to think deal with watching head injuries that last lifetimes for the players. Or maybe that's why I like watching those two team sports the most. [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/240102/average-player-career-length-in-the-national-football-league/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/240102/average-player-ca... [2] https://www.quora.com/Would-the-NFL-or-football-in-general-be-safer-if-there-were-no-pads-or-helmets https://www.quora.com/Would-the-NFL-or-football-in-general-b... [3] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/01/512848122/with-concussion-risk-in-soccer-headers-may-kick-it-up-a-notch https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/01/5128481... [4] https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028547803/brett-favre-kids-football-14-cte https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1028547803/brett-favre-kids-f...

alistairSH 5y ago
Brett Favre, a quarterback from the south, came out and said to not have kids play tackle until they're 14. But when they turn 14? It's not like that risk goes away. IIRC, his statement was based on CTE studies on the brains of ex-high school (but not ex-college/NFL) players. Of the sample, those with signs of CTE had played youth football as well as high school ball. Only one CTE sample did not play youth ball (and the rest of the high-school-only samples did not have CTE). Gist of it being that playing youth ball through high school puts you at a significantly higher risk of CTE than high school only. But, you are correct that any time spent playing has risks.

alistairSH 5y ago

Brett Favre, a quarterback from the south, came out and said to not have kids play tackle until they're 14. But when they turn 14? It's not like that risk goes away. IIRC, his statement was based on CTE studies on the brains of ex-high school (but not ex-college/NFL) players. Of the sample, those with signs of CTE had played youth football as well as high school ball. Only one CTE sample did not play youth ball (and the rest of the high-school-only samples did not have CTE). Gist of it being that playing youth ball through high school puts you at a significantly higher risk of CTE than high school only. But, you are correct that any time spent playing has risks.