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The chairman of the National Football League’s health and
safety advisory commission, Dr John York, recently said that
he believes American football could ban helmets in the future.
So isn’ t suggesting the removal of helmets a backward step
in prevention?
Not necessarily so, as some exper ts think helmets give
the players a false sense of security and make play more
aggressive. The idea of banning helmets has been raised by
some doctors and ex-players in recent years without ever
really being taken seriously.
It is an idea that has already been introduced in another sport
with a high incidence of concussion related injuries – boxing.
The International Boxing Association banned the use of
headgear for some categories of boxing stating that all
available data indicated that the removal of headguard in
elite men would result in a decreased number of concussions.
Research involved 15,000 boxers, half of whom had competed
with headgear and half without and found that in the 7,352
rounds that took place with boxers wearing headgear, the rate
of concussion was 0.38 per cent, compared with 0.17 per cent
per boxer per round in the 7,545 rounds without headgear.
American football players f irst star ted wearing head
protection - initially made from leather - at the turn of the
20th century when skull fractures and neck injuries were a
signif icant and occasionally fatal problem. Helmets are much
improved since the f irst plastic models in the 1940s.
These developments were intended to improve safety, but
they also emboldened players to make bigger hits, of ten
using their helmets like battering rams. Concussions were
inevitable.
For the game to be played without helmets, the three-point
stance which enables players to launch themselves at each
other headf irst, providing the trademark crunch that starts
each play, would probably be outlawed and instead each
play would start in a more upright position. But York thinks
the NFL, which is used to making changes, should continue
to tweak its rules, including, perhaps, ditching its iconic
headwear.
An evolutionary change of the rules that improves the safety
of the sport by minimising the risk of concussion which, at the
same time, maintains the principle elements and enjoyment
of the sport is a natural progression.
But a knee-jerk reaction in the face of a media frenzy that
changes the sport signif icantly is not the way to go.
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