[Source: Author, Elliot Shin]
At least 11 high school football players died in the United States during the 2015 season. Football players are tackled multiple times every game. Although there are some limits on where you can tackle a player, these rules are not stopping enough injuries. The average lifespan of a professional football player is between 53-59 years old. This is much lower than the expected life of an average man, at 78.7 years old. Whether or not football is played professionally or for your high school and college team, the thrill of playing the sport does not outweigh the negative impacts of injuries and disabilities.
A study conducted in 2007 shows that nearly eight people in high school and college get catastrophic head injuries. A concussion is considered mild on the scale of what some head injuries are. When this mild injury occurs, things can get very serious. Some long term effects include trouble focusing, memory loss, and disorder of smell and taste. Head injuries are not the only injuries that some footballers go through. Another serious injury in football has to do with your spinal cord. At Harvard’s first football game of this years season, a freshman was terribly injured. A student injured himself so badly, that he needed assistance breathing. Not only could he not breathe on his own, but he is also temporarily paralyzed.
[Source: Author, Elliot Shin]
Although it is very unlikely that the whole sport of football would be banned from being played in high schools and maybe even professionally, something must be done. Now people are starting to notice that things need to be changed. As a football watcher myself I would hate to see football be banned, but I would like it if a new rule was added, referees were stricter when it came to safety, or more safety equipment was used.
