Wearing helmets in body contact sports
Roar Guru By Michael C, 21 Oct 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- AFL, Basketball, Charles Barkley, National Football League, NBA
Charles Barkley, the famous former NBA star and US Olympic basketballer, was recently quoted speaking about AFL players.
“I don’t want to insult the Australians (but) I am like, ‘These guys are some damn idiots’,” Barkley told the Dallas affiliate of ESPN Radio.
“Nobody plays football without pads every week for three, four or five months and don’t make any money.
“At least in the NFL, you are going to kill yourself and . . . you get to be a millionaire after it’s over.”
This may be so, however, as Greg Baum’s recent article Destructive love and the risks in football illustrates, simply wearing padding and a helmet may just be the trigger that allows faster/harder impacts with a perception of greater protection.
Baum’s article is based on a study commissioned by the National Football League that reports that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.
Perhaps we’re all idiots playing any form of contact sport or football code.
However, at what point do the code administrators have to take responsibility for the positions of greatest risk that the participants are placed in.
On this point, the AFL really can’t be criticised for seemingly taking greatest heed in recent times of advice from their doctors in crafting rules and interpretations.
After all, without specific “Don’t” rules, then we see football players, as has happened historically, decide that denied the use of hands, the head is a legal tool.
Recommend this story.
- Explore:
- AFL, Basketball, Charles Barkley, National Football League, NBA
October 21st 2009 @ 8:55am
Pippinu said | October 21st 2009 @ 8:55am | Report comment
Who are the Seppos??
Oikee is telling us all the time that everyone in the US absolutely loves League!!
October 21st 2009 @ 8:59am
BennO said | October 21st 2009 @ 8:59am | Report comment
A seppo is an american. It’s rhyming slang, Septic Tank = Yank. I thought everyone knew that one.
Interesting Oikee should say that. I’ve had a different experience. So far the people I have come across are into the AFL. I mean among the small group of people who know anything about the lands across the Atlantic or Pacific.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:00am
BennO said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:00am | Report comment
Actually “into the AFL” is probably overstating it. They are aware of it and probably watch it out of curiosity. But I was told that some have bought AFL scarves and other merch as a result.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:06am
Pippinu said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:06am | Report comment
Ben
it’s fair enough to qualify it – no one should be under any illusion that the key professional sports abolutely dominate everything – and what’s left behind is small change.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:19am
BennO said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:19am | Report comment
Sadly that’s true.
I really think it’s a triumph of marketting too. This is the first time I’ve paid attention to the local sports on a trip over here (lot’s of time to myself on this one) and I have to say they are boring as batsh*t. They really are! I’m sure I’m not sharing any secrets here, but crikey if they think baseball is exciting, 20-20 cricket could be massive over here, not to mention either rugby code. I mean really, so little happens in a game of baseball it’s no surprise half of them have beer belly’s. As for American football, well it can be somewhat exciting as far as action goes but it really has nothing on either rugby or AFL.
With the right marketting (which would cost an inordinate amount of money), the yanks might realise how little action they get in their big sports. Course I realise it will never happen, but if it did boy would we have to find a better solution to the salary cap.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:53am
Michael C said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:53am | Report comment
I’ve sometimes speculated only half seriously that both the best and worst that could happen for the AFL would be if the Seppos (as you put it) were to get into footy in a big way. As it is, there’s a fair array of clubs dotted across the US, and a goodly proportion of the players are locals – - – who, in the main stumbled upon the game and have oft been quoted as lamenting not stumbling across it sooner. There’s examples of guys who backpacked in Australia for a few months or studied in Sydney for a year who went back to the US and established local Aust Footy clubs.
[note – all this is pretty worthless without decent juniors/getting in the collegiate system).
So, there’s been all this ‘growth’ over there NOT run by the AFL.
What if…..just what if it suddenly boomed….and how big does it have to be. At what point would the AFL seriously have to accept some real international responsibilities? It’d be interesting to see it happen if it did – - as an academic exercise if nothing else. But, obviously, the lack of ovals would be a killer……..but, if cricket makes some real headway…..
I was amazed recently when I read about cricket in Chicago – a recent article about a new cricket oval for Indionappolis mentioned Chicago, which lies three hours northwest, has five leagues and approximately 400 amateur teams. .
Perhaps there’s hope??? Especially for T20. I can understand the AMericans look at soccer and think that GridIron is perfectly reasonable, or look at test cricket over 5 days and figure baseball is fine.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:25am
BennO said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:25am | Report comment
I just wrote a blurb about how our comparable sports have so much more action in it that baseball and NFL and that with the right marketting they could be huge. It had wit, comedy and panache, you would have loved it. But for some reason it didn’t post and it got lost in the ether. So you’ll have to take my word that it was great.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:26am
AndyRoo said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:26am | Report comment
They have variations like Arena football and also sports like Ice Hockey and Football exist there….there just not as popular.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:33am
BennO said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
great it did get posted….now it’s there for all to see that it didn’t actually have much wit, comdey or panache. First time a post on the roar has been moderated…and it caught me out.
Well I’ll take my medicine.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:10am
AndyRoo said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:10am | Report comment
Seppos is short for septic tank which is rhyming slang for Yank which is short for Yankee…which a while a go meant American.
Ahh should have refreshed, Ben beat me to it.
October 21st 2009 @ 9:18am
Michael C said | October 21st 2009 @ 9:18am | Report comment
Ah, Seppos……makes sense.
BennO -
it’s interesting you say that. A year or so ago, Rusty Crowe was whinging about the coverage of NRL over there, and that on Setanta that the AFL was getting about 3 games a week and he wasn’t happy with that becuase the NRL was only getting 1 or 2 games.
At the end of the day though – - to be a clearly distinct game that WILL attract that curiousity factor – - well, A. soccer is clearly distinct,
B. AFL is pretty well distinct…..no off-side, no x-bar, oval grounds
and then there’s 2 Rugby codes that look not too different to US football without the pads/helmets.
I find it hard to imagine that too many Americans would have that ‘curiousity’ factor about the Rugby codes…….far different is the penetration of Rugby Union into the AMerican Collegiate system etc. And far different as well is that RL has a couple more countries of potential expats to draw upon than AFL.
October 22nd 2009 @ 1:12am
BennO said | October 22nd 2009 @ 1:12am | Report comment
It will surely be a big thing to deal with if the any of our footy codes took off here. I mean if it went really big, the financial implications would be massive. Interesting what you said above about how many AFL teams there are in the US. It’s going to start small, but in time…well who knows.
October 21st 2009 @ 10:02am
Hoy said | October 21st 2009 @ 10:02am | Report comment
WHY DO WE ALWAYS HAVE TO MAKE THESE THINGS SOME KIND OF PISSING CONTEST ABOUT CODES?
The article to me is asking about helmets and padding.
I have always thought watching the NFL, if noone had helmets and hard shoulder pads, then noone would need helmets and hard shoulder pads. The fact that they have shoulder pads and helmets seems a catch 22 to me. They have them because others have them. If noone had them, noone would need them.
If they tackled, it would still be a spectacle, less injuries, and for the most part keep the shape of the game.
I am a little more concerned about their tight tights…
October 22nd 2009 @ 3:17pm
Mushi said | October 22nd 2009 @ 3:17pm | Report comment
the way they hit you would still need pads. you consistently make contact with the head and in collisions.
I remember an idiot coach getting us to play without padding until someones jaw was split open.
No pads mean different rules required.
October 23rd 2009 @ 12:22pm
Hoy said | October 23rd 2009 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
But don’t you see that perhaps the way they hit is because they have pads? That is why I think it is a catch 22. They hit that way because they have padding. They have padding because they hit that way. They need padding because others tackle them with padding, and so on and so forth.
October 21st 2009 @ 10:13am
Midfielder said | October 21st 2009 @ 10:13am | Report comment
In the spirit of the article and taking Hoy’s point … I have given some tho for each of the football codes which aspect of their game is the most dangerous and would / should something be done about it.
Football … the slide tackle with studs up … can ruin a career … even cause permanent damage … the penalty now is a red card sent off and three weeks I think…
RL – the spear tackle …. could put someone in a wheel chair … the penalty normally at least 8 weeks (RL people should confirm)
RU – the spear tackle also … and collapsing scrum with hookers exposed in particular… not there is no penalty for the scrum … but does have penalties for the spear tackle..
AFL … don’t know the answer but from my very limited knowledge it would be the hit in the back when taking a Mark and the player could go any which way and get hurt… however leave it over to the AFL…
Tho’s anyone…
October 21st 2009 @ 10:33am
Michael C said | October 21st 2009 @ 10:33am | Report comment
Middie – re AFL, it’s the fellow with his head over the ball being exposed to are dangerous ‘hip and shoulder’ (malicious bump) from a fellow coming from the opposite direction and effectively cleaning him up. The AFL have been working hard to get this out of the game. They’ve faced a lot of criticism for it – - but, have stood firm stating that they are acting under the advice of their medico’s – - – On that basis – I defer to the AFL administration.
That was half the reason I wanted to write something like this.
It was like in Cricket where ‘intimidatory bowling’ became a law, and the famous no ball/no out call on Jimmy Higgs when he then hung on and guided Dougie Walters to a century at the expense of the Kiwis. But, then helmets became so common place and pitches of better quality and tail enders developing better batting technique that this rule is no longer really required…..from a safety perspective…..but is required to limit the amount of short pitched bowling that was more used strategically to limit scoring options.
The irony of US football is that they made rule changes 100 odd years ago because the more Rugby styled game was way, way too dangerous.
btw – the soccer scenario, studies have found similar rates of concussion as per American Football. THe main cause, not so much incorrect heading technique on the ball itself, but, more, head clashes or head vs boot – - – as a direct result of the ability to use the head to strike the ball.
The head vs boot scenario could be improved via a kicking in danger which would outlaw scissor kicks near another player who might be attempting a header??
October 21st 2009 @ 10:34am
Pippinu said | October 21st 2009 @ 10:34am | Report comment
With AFL – it’s definitely the “head over the ball” scenario which is the most dangerous – where you can either be hit at a very high collision with an opponent’s knee or hip (and Neil Sachse became a quadraplegic in that exact situation in 1975), or when you get possession and lift your head – at that very instant you are quite vulnerable – it’s the speed, and traffic in all directions that accentuates that vulnerability.
It’s also why slowly but surely the AFL has been putting the onus on the player coming in with full visibility to avoid contact to the head of the player with his head down.
October 21st 2009 @ 12:48pm
sledgeross said | October 21st 2009 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
I cant believe people here didnt know what “seppo’s” were. Hang your bloody heads in shame lads, its a fair dinkum disgrace!
October 21st 2009 @ 1:00pm
MyGeneration said | October 21st 2009 @ 1:00pm | Report comment
Some of them bang on about the Great Australian Game, but they can’t even speak the language!
October 21st 2009 @ 1:09pm
Pippinu said | October 21st 2009 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
Sorry folks – never heard it!!
Might be a Northern thing!!
October 21st 2009 @ 3:15pm
Midfielder said | October 21st 2009 @ 3:15pm | Report comment
Pip
Have often used the term… must be the Murry stops many things going south and but also protects us from the bad things coming from the south…
October 21st 2009 @ 3:16pm
Pippinu said | October 21st 2009 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
Mid
you better watch out – they’ve built a bridge over the river now!!
October 21st 2009 @ 3:19pm
Redb said | October 21st 2009 @ 3:19pm | Report comment
yanks….been around for ages.
October 21st 2009 @ 1:10pm
Pippinu said | October 21st 2009 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
From the Macquarie:
seppo
/’sepoh/.
noun Colloquial
an American.
[rhyming slang sep(tic tank) yank + -p- + -o]
October 21st 2009 @ 3:45pm
tifosi said | October 21st 2009 @ 3:45pm | Report comment
What does septic tanks have to do with Americans? Is it because they are full of sh*t?
October 21st 2009 @ 11:10pm
BennO said | October 21st 2009 @ 11:10pm | Report comment
Nothing more than the rhyme with yank tifosi. But when I explained it to one bloke over here he got all offended because I had called him a piece of “sewerage infrastructure”.
While many of them are ok, I concluded that he was indeed full of sh*t.
October 22nd 2009 @ 4:48pm
Mushi said | October 22nd 2009 @ 4:48pm | Report comment
I was always under the impression that it was also because they were viewed to be full of it
October 21st 2009 @ 6:28pm
Dave1 said | October 21st 2009 @ 6:28pm | Report comment
tanks rhymes with yanks
October 21st 2009 @ 6:42pm
Dave1 said | October 21st 2009 @ 6:42pm | Report comment
I think padding and helmets developed in American football because so many people were dying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_football_helmet
“……..It’s widely thought that a change in the rules of football led quickly to the need for better protective equipment. In 1888 the college football annual rules convention voted to allow tackling below the waist. Players and coaches soon viewed pads as essential for the game. However, helmets were the last thing to be accepted. They were not a mandatory piece of equipment in college ball until 1939 and they were not made mandatory in the National Football league until 1943……”
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/kidscorner/football.htm
“……..Strange as it may seem, high school football, college football, and even the Super Bowl might not exist today if President Theodore Roosevelt had not taken a hand in preserving the game. As originally played on college campuses, the game was extremely rough, including slugging, gang tackling and unsportsmanlike behavior. Quite a number of players died (18 in just the year 1905 alone, with 20 times fewer players than there are today). Interest in becoming a football player was declining!…….”
October 22nd 2009 @ 11:43pm
Jeff Baxter said | October 22nd 2009 @ 11:43pm | Report comment
There were 71 deaths in the yorkshire rugby union leagues in the three years leading up to the split in 1895. Different times i know but jeez people played that for fun!