Lawmakers in Illinois,
New York propose tackle football bans for youth
Send a link to a friend
[January 26, 2018] By
Chris Kenning
CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Illinois lawmaker on
Thursday proposed a bill that would ban tackle football in youth sports
before age 12, one day after a similar bill was reintroduced in New
York.
|
Both measures highlighted the sport's growing brain injury concerns
ahead of the Feb. 4 Super Bowl, likely to be seen by hundreds of
thousands of U.S. children who play youth football.
Illinois Democratic state Representative Carol Sente dubbed her bill
the "Dave Duerson Act to Prevent CTE," after the former Chicago
Bears player diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a
degenerative brain disease linked to head trauma.
Hers and a similar one from a New York legislator seek to protect
developing brains from repeated blows that could cause neurological
damage, said Chris Nowinski, the head of the Concussion Legacy
Foundation. He said studies have linked the duration of a player's
career to the risk for such damage.
"We have an obligation to protect children's futures, especially
when we know how brain trauma can be prevented," Duerson's son,
Tregg Duerson, told Chicago's ABC7-TV on Thursday.
Both the National Football League, which has grappled with fallout
from CTE in recent years, and youth football leagues have made
changes to limit injury and head contact, enacting measures such as
requiring players who suffer a suspected head injury to receive
medical clearance before returning to play.
"We hope that all youth sports will continue to take measures to
reduce head contact through similar rules changes, education and
improved protective equipment," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in
a statement, without directly addressing the proposed youth tackle
bans.
[to top of second column] |
A Boston University study last year found boys who start playing
American football before their 12th birthday may be at increased
risk of behavioral and mood problems later in life compared with
peers who hit the gridiron later.
It found youth football players sustain about 250 head impacts per
season.
Scott Hallenbeck, executive director of USA Football, told the
Washington Post that the organization has not taken a position on
outlawing tackle football for children under a certain age but said
it needs to look into the possibility. He could not be reached by
Reuters on Thursday.
It is unclear if the bills will gain traction but Nowinski said next
month's big game will focus attention.
"This is a good time to be talking about this because the eyes of
the country are on the Super Bowl," Nowinski said.
(Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|