Should we ban football?

[Bakis]

This is a dumb post. I played football from age 8-18 and i never got seriously injured. The chances are really slim to get long sustaining injuries. Only NFL players show long term vulnerability. But if you get paid that kind of money, you make the sacrifice.

Highschool football is more than fine. By that time the players have already been playing for 6ish years. And its a choice, nobody is forced to play outside the prisoners on The Longest Yard.

But that does not compare it to fotball or rubgy? Nor the medical team , insurancies availble at high level play? =)
Have a nice evening btw, soon off to party

[Shakari]

Rugby :

Foul play includes

- obstructing opponents
- punching, trampling, kicking or tripping players
- tackling too early, too late, above the shoulders
- tackling a player when they are in the air
- doing anything which is unfair or dangerous.

How many of them are legit in your "Football" ? There is no way rugby is more dangerous...

Anyway, banning a sport enjoyed by so many of you is plain stupid.

Umm have you ever played rugby.... its involves pretty much the same impacts and tackles and risks as american football ... but the player are not padded to the teeth and wear crash helmets ....

So yeah rugby is more dangerous ...


and just to note.... I doubt any of the things that are listed as fouls are allowed and legal in american football (please correct me if I'm wrong) but just because the not allow does not mean they don't happen, they happen all the time ... and ppl get penalized for it. They would not be rules if people never did them

[Daerio]

Will you please explain how guns are like sports? I don't get that one, at all.

Except for prostitution and drugs what exactly is it that's illegal that you think people should be able to do?

Your definition of freedom basically makes any society with any laws or norms a tyranny, at which point the word loses all meaning.

Innocent people get hurt playing sports. Innocent people get shot by guns. Sports has no 'legitimate' needed usage - people don't die if they don't play. There are legitimate, legal uses for guns. (for now) Sometimes people abuse them (both) and get hurt. As I stated, pretty much all the arguments to ban guns can be applied to ban sports.

"Except for the things that don't hurt anybody, what exactly is illegal that I think shouldn't be?" Well, there are a lot of other things that are 'illegal' in America that shouldn't be, and the majority would actually agree with me if they cared enough to find out. Most of them don't have anything directly to do with morality, but have a lot to do with vast corruption and money. This is a pretty good report on what I'm talking about - John Stossel's Illegal Everything

It's true that most governments in this day in age do enforce this morality or that, but that doesn't mean it's required, or that every government does it. Obviously when I say 'morality' I'm only referring to things that people can do that DO NOT hurt anyone else - peoples' personal choices that the 'majority' may not agree with.

[chadwix]

Look at Rugby - huge contact - little in the way of protection, and surprisingly low number of casualties

Rugby injuries are handled like they used to be in football, asking the player if they are ok or not. This is what former players are suing over, they were asked a question, lied and now want money for their injuries.

[Pendulous]

Rugby injuries are handled like they used to be in football, asking the player if they are ok or not. This is what former players are suing over, they were asked a question, lied and now want money for their injuries.

Um, not quite. Concussions leave permanent damage on your brain, no matter how long you wait until you play again. The former players are pissed because there wasn't enough safety, or enough foresight to think "hey, you know, these big giant hits to the head might cause some permanent damage".

[whathump]

Ban everything forever. That way we can brainwash everyone with chess tournaments. Only then can we realize our goal making Catholic bishops move diagonally. With this, we can rule the world.

[Belize]

Ban ALL the sports, and make E-Sports the new sports... I'd be happy, for I care not about the people throwing the balls around 'n' stuffz.

[Frozen Death Knight]

If we are going to start talking about safety in terms of sports, boxing would be a much better thing to ban than American football. A game made so that you win by punching the opponent's head to make him/her unconscious is a much more dangerous activity than a game which requires you to wear relatively heavy equipment to protect your body from injury while trying to achieve tactical goals to win.

[Shiny212]

Erm, I'm not for BANNING it, but I'm for informing people that it can be dangerous; also, alot of your "pro's" are just silly. You don't need to play football to feel patriotic, and certainly not to learn about culture. Also, I don't believe people should receive scholarships to pursue health-damaging activity.

[chadwix]

Um, not quite. Concussions leave permanent damage on your brain, no matter how long you wait until you play again. The former players are pissed because there wasn't enough safety, or enough foresight to think "hey, you know, these big giant hits to the head might cause some permanent damage".

Is their next lawsuit against fire?

Your a mod, why wasnt there an infraction for "soccer for rednecks". If i replaced rednecks with another group of people who enjoy nfl football (begins with N) would i be infracted? Racial slurs legal now?

[Aftonflickan]

Who the hell voted for option #1? You'd have to be a pretty fat f*ck to want to ban all sports and athletics, especially as being physically active is one of the few things which high schoolers do correctly...

[Dch48]

As someone who only considers Football a poor fill-in during the Baseball off season, they could ban it and it wouldn't bother me. Look at all the ex players who are semi-invalids from playing it with knee, hip, and other debilitating injuries, not to mention the concussion after effects. It's really a silly sport anyway, flawed by the same thing that makes other things games and not real sports, the time clock. It infuriates me to see athletes in any "sport" running out the clock by kneeling, running around the court, skating around in the back court, etc. Both teams should be guaranteed the same amount of possessions and opportunities to score regardless of the time factor. It's also stupid to have to give up being on offense after you are successful. To me, if a team scores a touchdown, they get to stay on offense. Anything short of that (including field goals), the other team gets the ball. They still get the same amount of initial possessions however. That way, it could be like Baseball where ,"It ain't over 'til it's over", and be far more exciting and interesting.

[TheFNK]

Kinda a ridiculous concept. Yes concussions happen in football. Yes it is a part of the game.

However to see it in context lets avoid rugby (too easy) and compare it to Boxing. The GOAL of a boxing match is to concuss your opponent so severely that he cannot stand up after being knocked down for 10 seconds. A concussion in football is an incidental part of the flow of the game. A concussion in boxing is the desired result. It is hard to advocate for a ban on football when we allow other gladitorial bloodsports to continue. Also the consequences of a career in boxing are FAR more pronounced than one in football. Too many old boxers with poor memories and the permanent shakes.

That said I am all for the NFL finally mandating concussion resistant helmet technology and mouthpiece technology. These are things that ALREADY exist and can reduce the incidences of concussions on the field. No clue why they won't make them a requirement. Seriously I got nothing. Why NFL?

[Skarssen]

Umm have you ever played rugby.... its involves pretty much the same impacts and tackles and risks as american football ... but the player are not padded to the teeth and wear crash helmets ....

So yeah rugby is more dangerous ...

100% false. I played both. Rugby is a tough sport and there are many injuries to be had, but you DO NOT receive the same type of hits that you do in football. Anyone who suggests you do has not played both sports or is lying. Rugby relies more on tackling mechanics rather than brute force impacts to stop the ball carrier. You simply cannot deliver or receive the type of hits football dishes out without padding and not be seriously injured. The fact that you seem to think rugby hits harder than football betrays you as never having played both at a high (i.e. collegiate or higher) level.

[blib]

Innocent people get hurt playing sports. Innocent people get shot by guns. Sports has no 'legitimate' needed usage - people don't die if they don't play. There are legitimate, legal uses for guns. (for now) Sometimes people abuse them (both) and get hurt. As I stated, pretty much all the arguments to ban guns can be applied to ban sports.

"Except for the things that don't hurt anybody, what exactly is illegal that I think shouldn't be?" Well, there are a lot of other things that are 'illegal' in America that shouldn't be, and the majority would actually agree with me if they cared enough to find out. Most of them don't have anything directly to do with morality, but have a lot to do with vast corruption and money. This is a pretty good report on what I'm talking about - John Stossel's Illegal Everything

It's true that most governments in this day in age do enforce this morality or that, but that doesn't mean it's required, or that every government does it. Obviously when I say 'morality' I'm only referring to things that people can do that DO NOT hurt anyone else - peoples' personal choices that the 'majority' may not agree with.

That doesn't work, at all. "Innocent", if you are participating in the sport you aren't innocent in the sense you have to use the word to make any sense here. All the participants in a sport is aware of the risk and are thus accepting it. I'm not accepting nor am I participating in anyone else having a gun.

Sports provide carriers, exercise and it's sole purpose is not to harm other living things.

People abuse sport? How?

Are you for not intervening with someone committing suicide? Even if it was someone you cared about? Since it seems you only want laws against hurting others.

What you label morality isn't necessarily that, needless to say that will vary on a case by case. I don't use drugs, never have and never will, drug use harms society as a whole by making people less productive and yet I'm for it. Prostitution is something I myself have never used and likely, unless my fiancee leaves me and I get ugly with age, never will use and yet I'm for it, I even think it will be good for society.

You seem to have very black and white case of what harming others is. There is many ways to harm people, directly and indirectly. Morality is also something that is at the core of us human beings, without it we are animals, with nice tools, means of communicating but still. Murder is immoral, so say the majority of our society and yet there are cases where we deem the taking of another life just.

Why should we not harm others if it benefits us? If you take morality out of the picture?

[Deleted]

Were in the world is American football less dangerous then Ruby?

[Skarssen]

Were in the world is American football less dangerous then Ruby?

In the minds of Europeans/ANZACs who have never played football.

[jahasafrat]

This thread is nothing but an attempt to paint Liberals as America-hating social radicals. I'm a social Liberal and I've never called for the banning of anything, nor have I heard any calls from the dreaded left to ban football.

[Deleted]

I voted to ban football, as in 'soccer' as you folk call it. It's a pointless game full of overpaid primadonnas.

[Deleted]

Ahh this reminds me of EU.. they want to ban something that's dangerous but they allow stuffs that is even more dangerous!

(For those of you that wants to know what EU wants to ban is it the swedish snus, but they dont want to ban ciggarettes)