Contact sports like AFL could cease to exist in one generation

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Very interesting article in todays AGE

Contact sports will 'cease to exist' within a generation:

www.theage.com.au/sport/nrl/contact-sports-will-cease-to-exist-within-a-generation-20190809-p52fpf.html

Adrian Proszenko
By Adrian Proszenko
August 11, 2019 — 12.00am

  • Doctor Bennet Omalu, the medical pioneer who discovered the first cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, predicts contact sports such as rugby league, rugby union and AFL will cease to exist within the space of a generation due to the health hazards associated with concussions.

Pressed on how long before he envisioned the demise of contact sports such as rugby league, Omalu said: "It will take one generation. That means maybe by the time my generation passes away. The children being born today, with all that we know today now, I don't think they will embrace these violent sports the way we did
 

Cmarsh

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There is a trial underway in rigby union in France that introduces the rule that tackling can only be from the waist down. This is in response to three deaths in the past year in lower level French rugby.
IMO this may put that tackler at more risk due to copping a knee.
 
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I think this bloke's expertise is with the NFL, not sure how much he knows about the other sports, in fact, he appears to be unaware that they all play with modified rules at early ages.

The other thing is, that yes, Rugby is a tough team sport, but in the lower grades, scrums present the most risk to personal safety. Once again, not sure how much he really knows about it.

In the AFL, much to the chagrin of the footy public, we have slowly but surely been doing more to protect the head. Clearly, it was and remains the right thing to do. Expect the trend to continue. I doubt the expert knows anything about our game.
 

Bay Giant

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I think this bloke's expertise is with the NFL, not sure how much he knows about the other sports, in fact, he appears to be unaware that they all play with modified rules at early ages.

The other thing is, that yes, Rugby is a tough team sport, but in the lower grades, scrums present the most risk to personal safety. Once again, not sure how much he really knows about it.

In the AFL, much to the chagrin of the footy public, we have slowly but surely been doing more to protect the head. Clearly, it was and remains the right thing to do. Expect the trend to continue. I doubt the expert knows anything about our game.

Can confirm.

Broke my back in one at 13, Lucky I was able to walk again.
 

Pippen94

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I think this bloke's expertise is with the NFL, not sure how much he knows about the other sports, in fact, he appears to be unaware that they all play with modified rules at early ages.

The other thing is, that yes, Rugby is a tough team sport, but in the lower grades, scrums present the most risk to personal safety. Once again, not sure how much he really knows about it.

In the AFL, much to the chagrin of the footy public, we have slowly but surely been doing more to protect the head. Clearly, it was and remains the right thing to do. Expect the trend to continue. I doubt the expert knows anything about our game.
What does he need to know other than sport results in concussions?
 
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Any reason why concussions suffered in AFL this weekend different to other sports?

You watched the movie?

Assuming it's got any relationship to the bloke's work, he's primarily concerned with small repeated hits to the head. That's less of a problem in football as rugby, and it's certainly arguable soccer will need to outlaw the header pretty soon too.
 

Pippen94

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You watched the movie?

Assuming it's got any relationship to the bloke's work, he's primarily concerned with small repeated hits to the head. That's less of a problem in football as rugby, and it's certainly arguable soccer will need to outlaw the header pretty soon too.
Any sports where concussions are prevalent.
 
Oct 3, 2007
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AFL will be fine, contact is already pretty much removed from the game.

By the way no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head to play AFL, Rugby, etc. Your own choice, everything in life has pros and cons and risks involved.
 

Pippen94

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You clearly haven't watched the movie. No idea what you're talking about and no idea that you have no idea what you're talking about!
You missed the point; smaller knocks are often overlooked. Doesn't mean concussions are less dangerous.
 

Pippen94

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AFL will be fine, contact is already pretty much removed from the game.

By the way no one is holding a gun to anyone’s head to play AFL, Rugby, etc. Your own choice, everything in life has pros and cons and risks involved.
Afl is a particularly dangerous sport because of its 360 nature. Players are often blindsided - that's where the damage is done.
 
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Afl is a particularly dangerous sport because of its 360 nature. Players are often blindsided - that's where the damage is done.

It has some risks, it is not a dangerous sport. formula 1 racing is dangerous, being a jockey is dangerous. I played and coached Aussie Rules my whole life and have seen plenty of bad injuries in my time, most of them accidents and that’s purely the risk the player takes in playing the sport. It is not a dangerous sport in my opinion, I do get however that in today’s world some or many may think it is.
 

RedV3x

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I think this bloke's expertise is with the NFL, not sure how much he knows about the other sports, in fact, he appears to be unaware that they all play with modified rules at early ages.

The other thing is, that yes, Rugby is a tough team sport, but in the lower grades, scrums present the most risk to personal safety. Once again, not sure how much he really knows about it.

In the AFL, much to the chagrin of the footy public, we have slowly but surely been doing more to protect the head. Clearly, it was and remains the right thing to do. Expect the trend to continue. I doubt the expert knows anything about our game.

Doctor Bennet Omalu, the medical pioneer who discovered the first cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, predicts "contact sports".....
Adrian Proszenko, SMH rugby league writer inserts "such as rugby league, rugby union and AFL".
The good doctor talks only specifically about NFL.
NFL is definitely a high impact game, followed by NRL and then rugby.
I'd be more worried about neck injuries in rugby union.
It turnaround to hear rugby league fans say there are now tackles in AFL.
The AFL has done much to focus on the illegality of high contact to remove it.
Soccer has kept quiet about the effects of "heading" the ball.

Rather than a negative for AFL, the AFL is best placed to take on the world.
 
Oct 3, 2007
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Doctor Bennet Omalu, the medical pioneer who discovered the first cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American footballers, predicts "contact sports".....
Adrian Proszenko, SMH rugby league writer inserts "such as rugby league, rugby union and AFL".
The good doctor talks only specifically about NFL.
NFL is definitely a high impact game, followed by NRL and then rugby.
I'd be more worried about neck injuries in rugby union.
It turnaround to hear rugby league fans say there are now tackles in AFL.
The AFL has done much to focus on the illegality of high contact to remove it.
Soccer has kept quiet about the effects of "heading" the ball.

Rather than a negative for AFL, the AFL is best placed to take on the world.

Head high contact is rife in the AFL, unfortunately some idiots decided that the bloke with the ball is at fault for getting head high contact 90% of the time now so free kicks are not awarded. Head high is sacrosanct in the AFL is the biggest crock of all time.
One head high contact after another all game happens in every AFL game now. It's unbelievable.
 
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Head high contact is rife in the AFL, unfortunately some idiots decided that the bloke with the ball is at fault for getting head high contact 90% of the time now so free kicks are not awarded. Head high is sacrosanct in the AFL is the biggest crock of all time.
One head high contact after another all game happens in every AFL game now. It's unbelievable.

I'm with you on this.

For some reason, a chunk of the footy public got outraged whenever a bloke trying to avoid the tackler got a hit across the chops. All of a sudden, the tackler is now allowed to whack the bloke with the ball across the chops, 90% of the time, with absolute impunity. Last weekend in Canberra, Greene was tackled by the head, grabbed under the chin with both hands, and the tackler attempted to yank his head off, and that was called play on.

Huh???

It's simple. Don't hit the player across the head, don't grab them by the head, and most importantly, don't complain that your hand ended up across his face because you started the tackle too high in the first place, or because you put a premium on trying to pin the arms (and started too high).

This "reward the tackler" hogwash has become a mantra. No...reward the bloke trying to win the ball, reward the bloke first to the ball, reward the bloke putting his head over the footy, penalise the bloke who is second to the ball and can't tackle legally.
 
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I'm with you on this.

For some reason, a chunk of the footy public got outraged whenever a bloke trying to avoid the tackler got a hit across the chops. All of a sudden, the tackler is now allowed to whack the bloke with the ball across the chops, 90% of the time, with absolute impunity. Last weekend in Canberra, Greene was tackled by the head, grabbed under the chin with both hands, and the tackler attempted to yank his head off, and that was called play on.

Huh???

It's simple. Don't hit the player across the head, don't grab them by the head, and most importantly, don't complain that your hand ended up across his face because you started the tackle too high in the first place, or because you put a premium on trying to pin the arms (and started too high).

This "reward the tackler" hogwash has become a mantra. No...reward the bloke trying to win the ball, reward the bloke first to the ball, reward the bloke putting his head over the footy, penalise the bloke who is second to the ball and can't tackle legally.

Add to that the poor bloke with his head over the ball trying to pick it up is just met front on body to his head and is now deemed to be leading with his head. It is just ridiculous yet the AFL say head is sacrosanct.
Make it simple, if a player ducks into a tackle then it’s play on, other than that and contact above the shoulder should be a free kick, make the coaches and players change how they do things. Don’t make the bloke with the ball have to stand like a tin soldier so it’s easier for the tackler to tackle him.
Head high is sacrosanct my ass.
 

NoobPie

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Head high contact is rife in the AFL, unfortunately some idiots decided that the bloke with the ball is at fault for getting head high contact 90% of the time now so free kicks are not awarded. Head high is sacrosanct in the AFL is the biggest crock of all time.
One head high contact after another all game happens in every AFL game now. It's unbelievable.

Sorry, you are wrong and this is the challenge

Professionalism had seen players use their heads as a "human shield" to win a free kick. If you don't think players taking possession of the ball and immediately trying to entice high contact isnt a big problem then I don't know where to even start

The AFL should start using match review to fine players with poor technique - tackling but particular the player entering the contest head first
 

NoobPie

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Add to that the poor bloke with his head over the ball trying to pick it up is just met front on body to his head and is now deemed to be leading with his head. It is just ridiculous yet the AFL say head is sacrosanct.
Make it simple, if a player ducks into a tackle then it’s play on, other than that and contact above the shoulder should be a free kick, make the coaches and players change how they do things. Don’t make the bloke with the ball have to stand like a tin soldier so it’s easier for the tackler to tackle him.
Head high is sacrosanct my ass.

Make players not lead with their heads trying to win free kicks
 
Oct 3, 2007
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Make players not lead with their heads trying to win free kicks

It is such an exaggeration how many players do this, maybe one out of 100. You can’t bend over, pick up a ball and stand up like a tin soldier in one step while running. Don’t tackle me above the shoulder.
It’s no different when I have the ball, I should able to wiggle up and down, try to evade other than ducking my head. Again do not tackle me high. It’s one of the biggest blow ups in AFL history.
Strongly disagree with you on this one mate.
 
Oct 3, 2007
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I just don't know how we reached a point where a player can show poor technique in tackling, give someone a smack on the chops, and not give away a free kick merely because the bloke who has won the footy was trying to avoid the tackler.

It's called rewarding the weak, Selwood gets tackled 20 times a game, he tries to wriggle out of all of them. He tries to raise his arm in all of them to get out of them but only succeeds in a few of them and has forced the tackle high. The weak tackler gets rewarded for not being strong enough to stick the tackler, Selwood is taken high and play on is the call.
It's fair dinkum like auskick.
 
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