"Can you smell the fear?", do the other football codes in Australia (AFL,NRL), genuinely fear football?

[Punchanello]

That said, thankfully the risk of ending up as a para/quadriplegic through severe injury in our game is virtually nonexistent compared to theirs.

I'm not an expert but I would have thought that any injury that could be attributed to either heading the ball or head clashes could be significantly reduced with some sort of lightweight headgear? Ala Petr Cech?

Not sure the same could be said for the type of high-speed whiplash seen in other codes.

 

[patjennings]

TBH - heading a modern ball is nothing and should not be stopped in younger players. As a 10 year old we knew not to try a sodden leather ball back in the day. Modern day balls are lightweight and the best time to teach the technique properly is when they are young.

Football problems don't come from deliberately heading the ball, they come from someone kicking the ball from a metre away and copping it in the head or from head clashes. The poor Victorian boy playing in the AFL apparently had a head clash but then landed on a covered concrete cricket pitch, similar to one of the grounds my son used to play football on.

 

[Quicky]

I'm not and expert but I would have thought that any injury that could be attributed to either heading the ball or head clashes could be significantly reduced with some sort of lightweight headgear? Ala Petr Cech?

Not sure the same could be said for the type of high-speed whiplash seen in other codes.

Head wear does nothing to prevent CTE. It's the brain bouncing off the inside of the skull after heavy impacts. NFL players wear the best helmets there are and it does nothing for them.

 

[patjennings]

Head wear does nothing to prevent CTE. It's the brain bouncing off the inside of the skull after heavy impacts. NFL players wear the best helmets there are and it does nothing for them.

A lot of work being done on sportsmen but I would suggest that anyone growing up during the 50's 60's, 70's or even 80's where playing outside for hours was the norm would have some form of CTE from either league, aussie rules, union or simple other games like British Bulldog (by whatever name it was called in you neck of the woods)

 

[HappyGuus]

The gridiron helmets make me wonder if they're really helping much. They're adding an extra two inches or so to the area for your head to be hit. Add another two inches to your opponents head size as well, you're just going to get hit in the head more. Are constant hits better than fewer? How much damage does the hard plastic save? Worth more than the number of hits?

I would've thought a spongier material would be better at decelerating the Gs on the brain. Like strap a pool noodle to your head or something