For nearly a decade, state Assemblymember Michael Benedetto has embarked on a legislative effort to eliminate tackling in youth football for ages 12 and under, and shift toward non-contact flag football. Responses to the bill over that time — and the possibility of scaling back full-contact and tackling in youth football — have set off intense and sometimes visceral reactions. Benedetto told the Bronx Times he’s been accused of attempting to “wussify” the game of football, a sport that has long-revered playing through pain.
“Football is so ingrained in our culture that I’ve heard concerns about this bill that it’s un-American, and that I’m trying to get rid of football entirely,” said Benedetto. “This bill is to protect our young kids from possibly having long-term brain damage that will affect them for rest of their lives.”
The reasoning behind Benedetto’s bill is supported by the ever-expanding science on head trauma as a 2021 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study reported that youth tackle football athletes ages 6-14 sustained 15 times more head impacts than flag football athletes during a practice or game and sustained 23 times more high-magnitude head impacts.
And the bill — which has never made it out of committee after years of pushback from lawmakers on both sides of aisle — isn’t without precedent.
In 2019, America’s northern neighbor Canada banned tackle football for kids 12 and under because of player safety concerns after participation dwindled by roughly 40% over the course of the past decade amid rising awareness of the impact of head trauma on brain health.
The U.S. is also starting to see a similar decline in youth participation rates in America’s most popular sport.
Data from the Aspen Institute’s State of Play report shows that from 2020-2021, participation in tackle football for kids ages 6-12 declined nearly 18%. Since 2016, the institute says, tackle football participation…
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