“Mum… Dad… can I please play a game where I’m most likely to suffer from head injuries? Please?”
So, what is your answer to this… yes or no?
Well in Australia, this answer seems more often than not to be “Yes mate, you bet, knock yourself out!”
I’ve written this extreme scenario in an attempt to remove emotion from the question, to present it only in the light of a cold, hard fact, because that is exactly what the cold, hard factual evidence an Australian Government agency has discovered… and I’m not talking about the ‘facts’ commonly espoused by the likes of Donald Trump and Malcolm Roberts.
An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare publication, “Australian sports injury hospitalisations 2011–12”, analyses and catalogs the nature and extent of injuries suffered from playing specific sports across Australia.
Of note in this work is that AFL is one of just two sports where “the most common body region injured” is the head.
The one other sport is cycling. This is caused by “transport accidents”, however for AFL it is caused by “contact with person”.
As such, the most common injury type in the game is a head injury via contact with another person – not so much an extreme accident but arguably an unfortunate but not unexpected injury via normal play.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability and death in children and adolescents in the US according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the symptoms of a brain injury in children are similar to the symptoms experienced by adults, the functional impact can be very different. Children are not little adults. The brain of a child is continuing to develop.
The assumption used to be a child with a brain injury would recover better than an adult because there was more ‘plasticity’ in a younger brain.
More recent research has shown that this is not the case. A brain injury actually has a more devastating impact on a child than an injury of the same severity has on a mature adult.
The cognitive impairments of children may not be immediately obvious after the injury but may become apparent as the child gets older and faces increased cognitive and social expectations for new learning and more complex, socially appropriate behavior.
These delayed effects can create lifetime challenges for living and learning for children, their families, schools and communities. Some children may have lifelong physical challenges.
I am a sports-nut who has loved playing a number of contact sports. I too am sure that there are modified rules in the playing of AFL for juniors to reduce the expectation of contact and so probability of head injuries.
I do though wonder that given the prevalence of head-injuries in the game, whether exposing children to AFL at a time their bodies and brains are still in formative years and susceptible to damage is the ideal option. At best, it could direct them in later years into a game whose most common form of injury, is to the head.
So the question you must ask yourself is, are you willing to risk telling your child, “You bet mate, knock yourself out!”
Aaron
Guest
There is not head gear in the world that could protect u from concussion, all sports helmets do is prevent scratches. Either toughen up or dont play instead of ruining it for people who have the ballz for it
The Fatman
Guest
May as well ban all sports.
c
Roar Rookie
Expert fears Australian sports more susceptible to concussion problems than NFL MICHAEL CARAYANNIS, The Sunday Telegraph July 29, 2017 8:24pm Subscriber only A LEADING concussion researcher has sent a chilling warning declaring Australian footballers as “more susceptible” to long-term concussion problems than their NFL counterparts. Cohen believes AFL, rugby union and rugby league players are at greater risk of suffering chronic traumatic encephalopathy because of a host of factors compared to NFL athletes.
Mat
Guest
I think development officers visiting schools in NSW is the growth area. The kids have no idea what they're doing.
Redb
Roar Guru
The author must be really scared of AFL (Australian football) growth in schools in NSW. :)
Redb
Roar Guru
The Roar policy has long been to allow these types of anti AFL articles whilst protective of certain other sports. It is Sydney based.
Redb
Roar Guru
So 'heading' the ball in soccer must be fantastic for the brain.
Ken Spacey
Guest
Heading is not encouraged until later stages of Primary School and is not that common as players develop technique and confidence and the ability to elevate the ball. Your point re shin pads is bizarre because players are expected to wear them and that they are fit for purpose. Your comments come across as an anti soccer view dressed up as objectivity.
Andrew D.
Guest
This is a 2011-2012 report and only statistically covers from the ages of 15-17 as its lowest age group of statistics used. The AFL game has changed a lot since 2011-2012, as from 2016 onwards concussion, tackling and jumper punching, which affects the head in any way is being scrutinised and penalised heavily in an attempt to phase it out and reduce it greatly from the game. Please keep more up to date with your statistics and if you are talking about reasons to stop parents from encouraging their children to play our great game keep up with the present and don't dwell on the past and use statistics that don't include the ages of the children you are targeting. You are trying to put fear and lies out into the community unnecessarily!!!
Mad Dog
Guest
Couldnt agree more Peter. You forgot to mention the toll it would take on the park itself and the inherent cost to the local council for maintenance. Its all a load of c**p. You could ban all sports from schools and kids would still find a way to get hurt. People are all up in arms about safety and yet the roads are full of morons driving while on their phones. The reality is that the kids are more likely to get seriously hurt on the way to school than they are kicking a ball around at lunch.
Peter the Scribe
Guest
Matth I agree! what a disgrace parents are to let their kids run around at Auskick when they clearly should be in their dark, climate controlled rooms locked away safely watching who knows what on the internet while Mum and Dad are having a nice afternoon chardy? Let's ban it and fine parents if anyone sees their kids kicking a footy in the park? After all the footy itself is also a dangerous thing and an errant kick could go anywhere and cause untold damage. Let alone the leather? Is it farmed responsibly?
Mango
Guest
How do you compare the severity of head injuries like Slaters with some guy who is knocked over, gets up with no symptoms and then passes the test on the field and plays on??? IN RU you have to report any head injury even if its minor, they pass the test and play on..I only use Slaters head injury as to the extremeness of injury rather than any code comparison. Why don't they separate the Rugby codes - reporting parameters are such that there is a distinction or does the info come from hospitals.
Shane
Guest
Given that there is clear evidence that heading the ball in soccer can cause shear type concussive injuries, it is a no brainer (pardon the pun) that the practice should be entirely ruled out for juniors.
matth
Guest
I suspect quite a high percentage of hospitalisations from car accidents are from head injuries. We'd better make our children walk everywhere. I suspect quite a high percentage of hospitalisations from swimming are from nearly drowning. How can responsible parents let their children go near water?
Paul D
Roar Guru
“I know you Trumpsters don’t like being called stupid – but you’re going to have to meet me halfway and stop being stupid”
Jeff Morris
Guest
I'm sorry, but what does President Trump have to do with this? Its a media myth that he states "inaccuracies" anymore than anyone else. He does speak extemporaneously on countless subjects quite naturally, unlike other politicians who only make pre-scripted remarks and spout party line gibberish. He may get an occasional minute detail that is wrong, like anyone else, but that doesn't mean he's not factually correct most of the time.
Mango
Guest
Fitz was answering a question - whats he going to say - BTW can you give us evidence of the quote. Again not all head injuries are the same..
Mango
Guest
I'll take your inexperience in politics and your rush to conspiracy theory immediately as evidence you retreat when there are things you don't understand. If McGuire had come out immediately after the Hunt defection, it would have been too obvious. There are many times in politics that one side gets wind the other is about to launch a bombshell and tries to deflect with a deflecting announcement. You quibble over 12 hours - bizarre. The fact that Malthouse was still in the chair and Buckley was to take over for the next season doesnt give you any hint on the implausibility of the timing. How do you explain the lack of Hunt mention in the AFL Footy show?
Mango
Guest
yes the contact sports aren't for everyone. More people swim and play golf than soccer - so what...
DB
Guest
where's the lie?