Soccer is addressing the concussion issue by banning headers. I think the current rule is no headers for U12s and below. That will probably be adjusted upwards to U14s at some point.
† https://news.northeastern.edu/2026/07/12/world-cup-headers-2...
Additionally, people in college and NFL have played waaay more football which increases the chance of CTE. 95% of HS football players will not play beyond HS.
Removing HS football and lower wouldn’t make a big difference and would negatively impact the most people.
And I started all four years, The first two years on both offense and defense.
I did for eight years, from 5th grade through 12th grade. There was a lot of value in learning aspects of teamwork, comradery, and working towards a common goal. However, given the hard data we have on the potential dangers, I am not letting either of my sons play. There are plenty of other ways (and sports) to get those lessons with much lower risks to their developing brains.
I think we can all agree that injuries to the brain are especially worrisome for children, especially when compared to common baseball injuries (hamstring, elbow, rotator cuff, etc.)
I'd rather my child accept a high risk of sprain, than even a low change of CTE.
I know a ex-professional football player that doesn't let his children play football.
I fear I have some mild anger problems. I can't tell you if any of it is even related to football, but if I could go back and stop myself from playing football in middle and high school, I would in a heartbeat. I hated the sport and felt trapped. I imagine I'm not the only kid with a similar story. And just because I never had an official injury doesn't mean the sport had no effect on my developing brain.
Kids don't always have the autonomy to make decisions for themselves; we don't let them use cigarettes or alcohol, get tattoos, etc. The sport has the ability to leave lasting damage on those playing it unlike other sports because impacts are intrinsic to the game as it's currently played. Other sports like soccer can and have banned headers.
I think it's reprehensible to continue allowing children to continue playing contact football.
I did, and I agree with the comment you responded to.
Pretty much all my worst injuries are related to football, sprains, hip issues, knee issues, and a concussion that took me out of a game in college.
Or why let our children take any risk?
Why let our children take all risks?
In other sports it's called an accident. In football it's called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. The equivalent in baseball would be if the rules/style of the game required to batter the bat ball by smashing it on their head every single time.
The article also explains how it works, and while someone that stops playing football after high school stops the increase of the "cumulative blows to the head" counter, it still leaves a trace.
Considering that by 50 you'd have the brain of an 80 year old, I don't see why expose myself to that risk in the first place.
It's fairly likely they'll change the rules to reduce injuries. In the US, they already banned kids under 10 from deliberately heading, with some practice rules after that.
And ultimately, changing the rules is sort of like a ban. You can't (competitively) play the original sport.
Most of a football game is spent waiting for resumption of play, while girls soccer is continuous.
Football also introduces a different type of collision than those experienced on a soccer field (conceding girls soccer can be pretty intense). Dangerous football plays are by design, often straight ahead collisions, while contact in soccer is often incidental.
We are finding lifelong debilitating disease in football players, at rates far exceeding other sports, so I think it's fair to scrutinize the risk. Entering a profession that promises a 75% likelihood of degenerate brain injury is a sobering thought. Then consider high school and college football players are exposing themselves to the risk of developing some form of this disease before they're old enough to understand the risk, and without a luxury lifestyle to show for it.
FWIW, I played American football for 10 years and I relished contact, but older and wiser now I think I could have scratched that itch in a safer way.
My daughter does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu since a few years already now: her uncle is a black belt. She skateboards too. Those aren't "safe" sports. BTW she already dislocated someone else's arm (nothing serious but the other person wanted to "see if BJJ works": she got her answer).
And yet there are sports I won't let her do, like proximity flying or basejumping for example.
Saying: "All sports have risks, so all sports are equally risky" is a logical fallacy.