0

SportsBlog

Can Football's Past Save Its Future?

Rugby was a precursor to American football. Soccer is also attached to early football as well, and all three games can trace their roots back to Greek and Roman games.

The first football game in America is credited to Rutgers University and Princeton University on November 6, 1869. Rutgers won the game 6-4 over Princeton.

Football began to gain popularity in the U.S., especially on the east coast, and at universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University and others. While the game grew fans, it also grew detractors.

Early football was even more violent than today’s football. In fact, punching or drop-kicking an opposing player was not against the rules. Neither were shots to the head or other moves you might see in bar fight or pro-wrestling match.

Football tried to clean itself up with rule changes from the http://www.hornetfootball.org/documents/football-history.htm">“Father of American Football” Walter Camp. Under Camp, the game added the line of scrimmage, cut players on the field down to 11, changed the size of the field, created the downs system used today and many other advances.

While these rules helped, the game was still dangerous to play. In the early 1900s, the game came under fire to be banned for how violent it was at the time.

There are reports that upwards of http://deadspin.com/did-football-cause-20-deaths-in-1905-re-investigating-1506758181">20 people died playing football in 1905. That spurred change even as then-http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/05/opinion/greene-super-bowl/">President Teddy Roosevelt got involved because of the public outcry.

Rules were changed again, this time adding the forward pass and the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association the forerunner to the NCAA. These rule changes helped make the game safer in the long run.

Fast Forward to 100 years later and there is a public outcry over the safety of football. This time about concussions.

Let’s be honest. Football, rugby, hockey and other impact sports are going to always have a risk of injury or even death. That doesn’t mean officials should stop working to make the game safer, but there will be a certain amount of risk involved in playing these sports.

While http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-20/rugby-is-having-an-nfl-moment-as-concussions-bring-legal-scrutiny">concussions are a part of rugby as well as football, there is something football could learn from rugby.

The Seattle Seahawks and other teams in both pro and college football are teaching shoulder tackling. The Seahawks have even produced http://www.seahawks.com/video/2014/07/28/2014-seahawks-tackling">two http://www.seahawks.com/video/2016/04/20/2016-seahawks-tackling">videos on how to shoulder tackle properly.

Both videos show drills that can be done with and without pads to learn to shoulder tackle. The idea is to take the head out of the game. Nothing is 100 percent effective, but it should be worth studying to see if players’ head injuries are reduced by using rugby tackling.

Seattle, like them or hate them, is one of the best tackling team in the league and one of the most physical teams as well. The changes in how they tackle haven’t affected their ability to be physical on the field.

Football might be served best by learning from where it came from in rugby. Research into rugby tackling in football is needed to see if it makes the sport safer.

Rule changes and style of play changes have served football well in the past. Changes can save or at least make the game as safe a possible.

Making the game as safe as possible is something that football fans and detractors should both be able to agree upon.

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment