The biggest threat to the AFL in the future may not be from another code, but rather the brain.
On the Four Corners documentary Hard Knocks aired on Monday night, David Parkin, a proud and distinguished premiership winning player and coach told of his decision to retire after being knocked unconscious.
“I was out for 26 hours and that finally convinced me that it was time to stop playing and stop punishing myself”.
Former professional footballers have often talked about their bad backs and knees, sore joints and fused ankles but as with many physical occupations these are accepted as obvious and unavoidable consequences.
Players weren’t so forthcoming when it came to highlighting the effects of concussion.
However, the recent stunning findings in the US about the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in ex-NFL players have illuminated the more formidable effects of contact sport i.e. damage to the brain.
Suddenly, former greats like Tim Watson have admitted to concerns about the damage inflicted on their brains by the game.
Watson, who believes he suffers from memory loss resulting from concussions incurred while playing, has donated his brain to the Boston University which is leading the study into CTE.
There are possible legal implications too for the AFL. Currently 1500 NFL players are suing the NFL and their clubs claiming the devastating long term effects of repeated head knocks were hidden from them.
Allegedly the clubs referred to concussion as “mild head trauma” and advised the players to keep playing. To be successful the players presumably will have to prove clubs knew about the effects of concussion.
A precedent may have already been set in Australia with several AFL players receiving compensation from their clubs for affected brain function they claim was a result of head knocks.
The AFLPA has acted quickly by commissioning a study to be released later this year, which found that over half of the 600 players interviewed had suffered a major concussion, and that more than a quarter had experienced three or more concussions.
Also, the AFLPA’s general manger Ian Prendergast will be visiting Boston University and meeting with American player associations.
We’ll have to wait and see if the AFLPA’s findings will be used to give advice to the AFL, or provide ammunition for compensation claims.
The AFL itself doesn’t appear overly eager to engage in research on the topic. Instead it has looked to rule changes. It has made the head sacrosanct. Free kicks will always be given to players who receive a knock to the head, even if the contact is unintentional, or is a result of a player ducking or dropping into a tackle.
But, as the Four Corners documentary stated: changing the rules might not be enough to save the contact football codes.
When a parent allows their child to play football they are accepting the possibility that the child will at some stage suffer a physical injury.
Auskick has been a phenomenal success as a means of attracting future fans and players to the game with its emphasis on health, fitness and social skills. It has also cleverly involved the parents. But surely many will be reluctant to even allow their children get interested in the game if playing it at a higher level can lead to brain damage.
Four Corners ended their programme with: “And incidentally for those who might look to headgear for protection that might prevent some injury but it doesn’t do much to stop the movement of the brain inside the skull which is what causes concussion”.
A leading Melbourne neurosurgeon has said if a young player receives three significant concussions he should be made to give up the game forever.
If the kids themselves become aware of the dangers to the brain they may choose themselves to desert the code.
ManInBlack
Guest
Lacrosse is amazing - - have you googled "Lacrosse Riot"??
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Just stumbled across this article covering similar subject matter but form the point of view of US Lacrosse: http://www.uslacrosse.org/Blog/tabid/2819/EntryId/30/The-Time-Has-Come-to-Remove-Violent-Collision-from-Mens-Lacrosse.aspx They too are coming to grips with the intensity of hits increasing due to the greater speed of the players, but there remains great opposition amongst coaches to reducing the incidence of such hits since they see it as a part of the game and a valuable weapon. Very similar themes.
Scott Donogue
Guest
I Watched that story on four corners on Hard knocks. I have been knocked out and its not funny in a game of rugby. and out sports trainer sent me back out on the ground. two days later I was in hospital for 4 days. I sat the rest of the year out. I don't have any memory of that game. we sacked out trainer. I am know the trainer of the team. I know whats its like when you see other players get hit in the head. its not a nice feeling. I have sent one of our players to hospital with a grade 5 concussion. He never played rugby again. its a wake up call for trainers and sporting team in general with the dangers with Head Knocks.
ChrisH
Guest
Yes, exactly. Although boxers becoming punch drunk seems to be an age old symptom of head trauma. It seems to be bracketed under another name now
apaway
Guest
I would imagine that the sport that results in more concussions than any other is boxing. Has a study ever been done on the effects of multiple concussions on boxers?
apaway
Guest
ManInBlack Interesting thought, but as I have said on this thread already, there is no evidence to support the notion that heading a football causes concussion.
apaway
Guest
RedB The collisions shown to cause concussions on the 4 Corners program were far more severe than that involved in heading a football. While preliminary research has occurred on this more need to be done. However, the game has changed substantially at junior level (up to Under 13) to the point that heading a ball before that age is extremely rare. The ball is also a lot lighter than in the past.
joe blackswan
Guest
After the outrage shown in the US media about some woman (accidently?) showing a nipple during the superbowl halftime show a couple of years back, one is under the impression americans are more afraid of the affect of nudity than footballers getting concussed. I have read before, can't remember where, that if the NFL banned the use of helmets (perhaps just use rugby type head gear) and evolved their tackling technique there would be a huge reduction in head knocks....and this would have limmited impact (if any) on the overall spectacle of the sport. The NRL has to make more of an effort to protect the head....the shoulder charge is an embarrasing "tackling" technique, really gutless infact, and judiciary findings really ought to make more of an effort to reflect this.
Brian
Guest
The one rule i see changing is that play is stopped for a head injury like it is in soccer. currently you can have an incident like bruest and potentially greater injury as the game continues. in future i suspect the umpire will stop the game.
Andrew Sutherland
Roar Guru
Change that from "has donated" to "will donate" !
joe blackswan
Guest
I think a tenuous link was attempted at start but totally abandoned very quickly. Interesting read though...nice to see public outrage forcing change which is what may happen with this head concussion issue.
Eric George
Guest
Although it's fantastic to see contact sports finally having to deal with the realities of what they do to their players, I think it's easy to get carried away with the repercussions of this debate. The NFL is far more violent by nature than any contact sport popular in Australia, and even with all of the attention it has received lately due to concussions, I find it hard to believe that it will ever be anything other than America's no 1 sporting attraction for some time to come. There is an absurd amount of money tied up in American football from the professional level right down to high school ball, and as such a huge amount of inertia and interests tied up with keeping the sport viable and marketable. I'm not convinced that the majority of NFL fans will stop following the sport because of concussions or the legacy of its retired players; in reality I actually feel that a lot of people are drawn to watching contact sport for the very violence that is currently unpopular in the media. As long as people continue to hold contact sports in the reverence that they do now (and to be clear, I think they will for some time) young men will grow up with god-like sporting idols. Good luck to any parent who wants to stop their children from playing these sports, especially when the players get paid so handsomely at the highest level. Both in the USA and here at home sports will definitely need to adjust their rules to further protect players, and spend even more time learning how they can market their sports differently to keep them attractive to fans and parents alike. But I doubt that brain injuries will be able to stop the juggernaut sporting codes in any significant manner.
Kasey
Guest
I might be a bit slow here but by Gosh it sounds like you're havin a go at football here. Please explain to me a lifelong follower of the world game what this "header loophole" is? Then you might want to explain why it is that in all of the football codes in Australia, the AFL is the only one whereby a player cannot be sent from the field of play regardless of how egregious his behavior may have just been. If the head is sacrosanct, then why cant a player who goes the cheap shot be banished from the game as is the norm in other sports? Sh*t, the AFL has changed or tweaked every other rule to the point where the game I remember watching as a teenager seems to bear only a passing similarity to today's modern game. IIRC in the Ammos (played a little bit in the scum), a player can be dismissed from a game if the umpire deems his behavior warrants it it doesn't happen in the SANFL, so somewhere in the pyramid from Ammos through to AFL the send off ceases to exist.
Eric George
Guest
Although helmets being used as a weapon has definitely played an influence in the whole concussion debate in the NFL, it's definitely not the real reason that NFL players wear helmets, but have a higher rate of concussion. The NFL has recently done a lot to reduce these problems by cracking down on helmet to helmet contact, and leading with the helmet in a tackle. The reality is that the build of NFL players, and the physics involved the basic elements of the sport (faster, shorter plays and llong run ups on special teams plays) mean that it will always be a violent sport, with or without helmets.
joe blackswan
Guest
"Lifting elbows to turn a good tackle into a bad one = bad" don't think this causes concussion, just a breach of high contact rule.
A lot of people might scoff at the idea but it may come about that players are forced to wear safety equipment such as helmets.
ptato22
Guest
Well fighting wars is pretty dangerous and we keep finding excuses to continue that. Seriously, however, it's an incredibly intriguing issue as, like in the NFL in America, AFL is hugely popular with the general public. It's hard to imagine the NFL or the AFL altering their games enough to make a difference, especially considering the size, speed and athleticism of the players these days. I for one am concerned because I would be bored to tears without either of these great sports. On the other hand, a sports-writer in the U.S. the other day wrote an interesting piece suggesting football could become the new tobacco - after all a generation ago everybody smoked and everybody was happy about it. Let's hope this issue doesn't kill off contact sports.
shirtfront
Roar Rookie
I was listening to SEN yesterday afternoon and David Schwarz was asked if he had ever suffered a concussion during his long playing career. His reply was an adamant no, not once. Later in the show a caller asked the ox something like "weren't you knocked out in such and such a game in nineteen ninety something? Ironically his reply was something like "Oh, I forgot about that, that's right I woke up in the change rooms with fifteen stitches in my head".
ManInBlack
Guest
to end contact sports? or to force rule changes - like the long, long (140yrs) overdue closing of the 'header' loophole in the rules of soccer. :-)
Redb
Roar Guru
Did I mention warfare?