Injuries and Football Culture
By Albert B. Kelly
I love football. For
anyone who knows me that comes as no big surprise- I love most everything about
the game. My love of the game goes back to my youth playing sandlot and then
high school football. Once I got to the point where I could no longer play, I
contented myself with being a fan.
The one aspect of the game
that troubles me today is the injuries, especially as it impacts youth. My
playing days included a neck injury (I didn’t tackle correctly), and a broken
ankle in my sophomore year. These were fresh on my mind after reading about the
recent football-related death of Warren Hills Regional High School quarterback
Evan Murray. After taking a hit, the young man collapsed and later died from
what doctors said was a lacerated spleen.
According to a recent
article in the New York Times by Ken Belson, Evan Murray was the third high
school player so far this season to die from a game-related injury- last year
the number was five. Stats from the National Center for Catastrophic Sports
Injury Research listed 243 high school football fatalities between 1990 and
2010.
The main thrust of the piece
was the declining level of youth participation in football. The piece also
highlighted the growing number of high school football programs shutting down
or forfeiting games because they couldn’t field a team either from a lack of
interest or too many injuries or both.
I wonder more about the safety
of the game these days than I did as a player. While I loved playing back in
the day and I enjoy watching as a fan now, something needs to change. Maybe it
starts with the mindset today and it’s subtle, like the difference between
simply tackling the guy with the ball and leveling a punishing blow.
We tend to remember the
past- the “good old days”- with rose colored glasses. I know I do, which is why
I don’t remember football back in the 60’s and 70’s having such a high body
count. I’m not saying the injuries weren’t there, but I just don’t remember the
era having so many casualties. I also don’t remember so much celebrating when a
guy got knocked senseless and didn’t get up after a hit.
But then I snap back to
reality remembering that 5,000 former NFL players were part of a fairly recent
lawsuit relating to brain injuries they suffered as a result of years of hits
to the head and the accompanying brain trauma; concussions, and Chronic Traumatic
Encephalopathy (C.T.E) that’s unique to this group.
To be sure, part of
improving the safety of the game lies in better equipment and teaching proper
techniques. Yet I can’t help but think that changing some of the culture of the
game, so that it’s enough to just tackle or block guys without trying to kill
them, would help a little.
Maybe what’s happening in
football is just a sign of today’s sports culture, the one where midget league
parents threaten officials, other parents, and even opposing players. A prime
example are the high school players, supposedly on instructions from a coach,
deliberately take out an unsuspecting referee far from the play as happened a
few weeks back in a game in San Antonio Texas.
Our sports culture puts an
emphasis not just on winning, but on rubbing an opponent’s face in it. Maybe
it’s all meant to intimidate or psych out the other team, but whatever the
reason, this mindset finds its way into how players play the game on every snap
of the ball.
I guess this is called
“heart” and players are judged by how much of it they have. If by “heart” we
mean that competitive flame that translates into persistence, discipline, hard
work and achieving excellence, I can get with that. But if it’s all about trying
to physically and mentally punish the other guy, then that speaks to motive.
I could be all wrong and
the culture has nothing to do with the body count. But if I’m right, even just
a little, then maybe part of what we’re seeing in terms of the growing number
of serious injuries, and even deaths, is the consequence of competing with wrong
motives.
So let’s keep trying to
get the best and safest equipment we can for players and let’s teach the safest
techniques from the earliest ages. But let’s also see if we can’t change the
culture so that it’s enough to simply tackle the guy.