The recent same-day deaths of two young football players have rekindled a debate about the sport's safety risks.

Ryan Craddock had seen his share of tragedy during two decades as a coal miner and firefighter.

Then came the toughest heartbreak of all: his own.

Craddock and his family are mourning the loss of his 13-year-old son, Cohen, who died from brain trauma last month after making a tackle during football practice at his middle school.

Cohen’s death, and the death of a 16-year-old Alabama high school player from a brain injury on the same day, have sparked renewed debate about whether the safety risks of youths playing football outweigh the benefits that the sport brings to a community.

      • casmael@lemm.ee
        0·
        3 months ago

        ‘Youth football debate’ so like sprained ankles, knee problems I suppose, and the occasional fractured metatarsal? I knew a bloke whose son got some hip issues from whacking the ball too hard hey ho.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
    0·
    3 months ago

    “I don’t think we need to do away with football,” Craddock said. “A lot of people enjoy football, including myself. I just think we need to maybe put more safety measures out there to protect our kids.”

    The problem with implementing more safety measures - especially more padding or tougher gear - is that leagues, coaches and even some players start believing they can hit harder because they’re safer now … and that’s not the reality of it.

    Take hockey for example. I grew up watching hockey when goalie masks were just that, a mask; there were zero plexi plates surrounding the rink and not one player wore a helmet. Yes there were fights and hard hits, but the players understood that being injured would do nothing for the player and game. So they took it easy on each other (mostly).

    Same goes with mountainous highways, where back in the 60’s/70’s there were 2 lanes with a rock face on one side and a 100’-200’ drop on the other. People took care while they were driving because they recognised the danger. Now there’s concrete barriers on the slope side, 4 lanes with concret barriers between direction of travel, and people (especially young ones) speeding like there’s no tomorrow.

    Better gear and more rules doesn’t always stop injuries. A change in mindset (like flag football instead of tackle) is a better way to deal with things.

    • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I worked with a few sports medicine doctors, one who was a NFL team doctor and the other was a neurologist with the NFL’s head trauma research.

      I asked them about the gear and it was basically what you said. I wondered aloud if going back to leather helmets and minimal plastic gear would help and they both agreed it would greatly reduce the damage but them power of money and culture make it impossible to make the sport safe in a realistic way

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
      0·
      3 months ago

      The argument that safety measures lead to increased recklessness is an interesting one. I don’t believe it in general, because reckless people don’t particularly care to research safety factors and margins. But in certain situations it’s surely true.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
    0·
    3 months ago

    SAFETY? I’m a Pro Life Republican trying to Protect The Children and I don’t need you LIBERAL PUSSIES Changing my kid’s Football! If he dies he dies but at least he won’t die a PUSSY!

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Between every yard mattering and giving the kids 30-60 seconds to rest between each 5-20 sec play, there’s just not much that can be done.

    It’s inheiritantly unsafe for multiple reasons.

    1. It’s worse to stop, recover, and continue after a hit to the head just to take more.

    2. Ever play is 100% full speed.

    3. Every hit is maximum effort.

    4. Illusion of safety from pads.

    You couldn’t design a sport to maximize head trauma and do much better than football.

    Ironically rugby alleviates all those issues, and as a result is much safer despite obviously still have some dangers.

    Like, I saw a guy get his tooth broken off and stuck in another teammates head. I touched it, it was fucking stuck. But we were in the middle of a tournament and were already going to be down two people. So the guy who lost the tooth drove the guy with his tooth in his head to the ER. We couldn’t spare a healthy person to drive them.

    No sport is going to be 100% safe. But to make football safe, it’s not going to resemble modern football in any meaningful way.