Randy Smith: More Problems For Football

I've written before about the future of the game of football because of serious head injuries. The game has become more violent, faster and more dangerous than ever even after more emphasis on helmet safety and concussion protocol. This past weekend a high school player in Pike County Georgia collapsed and later died after suffering a head injury in the second quarter of his team's game in Zebulon, Georgia. Dylan Thomas came off the field after a hard hit and was coherent on the sideline before complaining of a headache. His injury came the day before a Tennessee State football player, Christian Abercromie, was seriously injured in Nashville in a game with Vanderbilt. Abercromie is still in critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery at Vanderbilt Hospital. Both of those injuries came within 24 hours in addition to a less serious head injury suffered by Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence following a hard hit in a game with Syracuse. Lawrence missed the second half of the game but was back at practice on Monday.

From 2015-2017 there were a total of forty-two deaths nationally from football injuries, with thirty of those deaths being high school players. 

The recent injuries at all levels of the game have led to calls for more safety regulations and some people including parents are asking if youngsters and teenagers should even be allowed to play football at all. Football player participation around the country is down almost 2% while participation in flag football is up 8.7% since 2011. NBC News recently conducted a poll that resulted in almost half (48%) of the country encouraging children to play sports other than football.

In addition, a long term study at Boston University found that youngsters who started playing tackle football before the age of twelve had more cognitive and behavioral problems than those who started playing after the age of twelve. Then there is the CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) factor. The disease that causes brain degeneration over a period of time due to repeated head trauma. CTE has prompted lawsuits from families of NFL players who died and had autopsies that revealed the disease.

There are just too many pieces of the puzzle pointing to the fact that football is a dangerous game. The one thing that football cannot do is ignore the problem. A status quo attitude will do nothing to help the sport, nor will it make it any easier for parents to be able to decide whether or not to allow their children to play football.

There are so many positives found in the sport of football such as, teamwork, sportsmanship and the sheer excitement of the game no matter whether it's played on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The few negatives however are weighing the sport down and something needs to be done. Stay tuned.