Say this for Mississippi: Despite rising concerns about concussions and long-term brain damage, it is one of only two states where more high school boys are playing football compared to 2013.
That’s according to an analysis by The Washington Post website, which reports regularly on football’s prominence in American culture.
Next-door neighbor Alabama is the other state that has more players today, while Louisiana is one of only three states where participation is about the same as a decade ago. There are fewer players in all other states.
Mississippi’s and Alabama’s gains may not be all that surprising, given football’s exceptional popularity in the South. But the two states are definite outliers: Their greater high school participation has occurred while the number of tackle football players nationwide is down 17% since 2006.
The national decline is no surprise. What the Post described as “the avalanche of negative storylines in the 2010s regarding traumatic brain injuries” has led to very visible efforts to protect players from head injuries. It’s now routine for an NFL game to include a player being placed in “concussion protocol,” for example.
Any parent, even the most ardent football fan, who is aware of this trend is bound to wonder if this is a sport that his kids need to play.
By a wide margin, though, football remains America’s most popular sport for high school boys. But the Post found noticeable changes in the makeup of who’s playing the game.
“Boys in the most conservative, poorest states continue to play high school tackle football at higher rates than those in wealthier and more politically liberal areas,” the website reported. Other demographics appear to be changing, too.
“Among kids and teens, White and Black males are playing tackle football at declining rates, while Hispanic boys increasingly take up the sport,” the story said. “In college, the proportion of White players is declining, and that of Black players rising, at faster rates than national demographic changes.”
Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson, who has been critical of the NFL’s response to brain injuries, understands why the game particularly appeals to lower-income kids despite the health risks. He said kids assume the risk hoping to get a big contract that will set up him and his family for life, even generations.
Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier, who is from Mississippi, said low-income kids see the game as a way out of poverty. That fits the poorest state in the country perfectly. The NFL says Mississippi has the fourth-most players in the league based on population, behind only Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama.
Tackle football is unavoidably violent — perhaps the only job with a 100% employee injury rate — but the NFL and colleges are making progress in reducing truly harmful collisions. The NFL’s number of reported concussions, however, has been rising.
The NFL is trying to keep young people (and their parents) interested in the game through options like flag football. It appears to be working. More children aged 6 to 12 now play flag football instead of tackle, and the flag version is far more accessible to girls and even adults. On the global stage, flag football has been included as a sport in the 2028 Olympics.
For many reasons, some NFL executives believe “the future of football is flag.” One is the evolution of the pro and college game to focus on passing the ball instead of running it. This trend is perfect for flag football.
But here’s the biggest reason: A 2018 study of 211 former football players diagnosed after they died with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, caused by repeated blows to the head, found that those who started playing tackle football before age 12 began to exhibit cognitive and behavioral problems 13 years sooner than other players.
“For each year younger a player started, symptoms came an average of 2½ years earlier,” the Post reported.
Football is an amazing game, and fun to watch. But there’s a risk that goes with playing it, and one message is clear: Don’t let your kid play tackle football till he’s 13 or older.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
