New Mac study reveals extensive permanent damage in brains of CFL players

CFL Talk
1

...with researchers even going so far as to equate some CFL players as having similar brain damage to those of coma patients.

disturbing to say the least.

https://www.thespec.com/news-story/7525066-collision-course-the-hard-science-of-hard-knocks/

2

Interesting. I hope this leads to more EEG tests being conducted for those with neurological symptoms that are unexplained with MRI tests. In Ontario, unfortunately, the provincial government does not seem to see EEG testing as "standard practice" for patients with movement disorders, speaking of personal experience, which is disconcerting and I think this handcuffs or may handcuff both practitioners and patients from receiving a timely diagnosis, in some cases.

Hopefully the results of this study will lead to further studies which could help in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological symptomatic patients and provide more information for practitioners and patients.

3

A couple of things the league should try

No helmets during practice.

No helmet to helmet contact during a game = ejection
Not talking about accidental - talking about the Cox hit a few weeks ago
NCAA banning helmet to helmet hits.

Seems to make too much sense not to try. While the game continues the video official rules on a helmet to helmethit and then discusses with the officials. They agree - then player ejected. Cox hit was nasty

4

Nice !! Sort of like boxing NO punching the head!!!!!!!!!
Or as a labor> No hard work.

We all die of something. To much work or to little. Your choice??Your occupation!!
We will always need gladiators. High Paid Gladiators. Cheers

5
We all die of something. To much work or to little. Your choice??Your occupation!! We will always need gladiators. High Paid Gladiators. Cheers
Yup, pretty much nails it brian.
6

First off, these CFL players that were tested in the study were uninformed as to the long term implications of brain disease as those who play today.

And secondly, we do not need Gladiators for our amusement in this day and age..nor are CFL players highly paid for such lifelong impairments.

Anything to make the game safer is fine in my books.

7

Well I don't think free climbers that climb say El Capitan like this chap who climb without ropes or safety gear got the message that a fall from such climb will most likely do some significant damage to one's noggin. :wink:

Agree, make the game safer but in the end, gridiron football is a collision sport as we know it, take away this aspect from the game and it needs a new name some might say.

8

ESPN Analyst Ed Cunningham Resigns Due to Concern over Head Injuries in Football

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Part 2

Collision Course: ‘I would have had one every game,' ex-player (Former TiCat + CFLPA Pres. Mike Morreale) says of Concussions

10

I bet it won't be long before some cities and municipalities will not be providing gridiron tackle football as a sport at the high school level, well maybe at any level. Wouldn't surprise me in the least. I think more of these types of studies will emerge in the near future.

11

There's been recent news stories about the dangers of soccer players "heading" the ball which leads to brain damage in many players. It's been documented that hockey players also risk head trauma from hits and running into the boards, etc.

There is little question you can get injured playing sports, even soccer. For the ultimate safety of young players, perhaps all physical sports should be banned and we move to a "virtual" platform, like Madden football or NHL 2018 that kids can play in the safety of their bedroom.

12

But that's irrelevant to the discussion and to the law suit that is going ahead. Of course if a young soccer player doesn't know how to head the ball properly they risk a concussion. Hockey players can bang their heads against the boards. But that has nothing to do with the football study and the CFL lawsuit.

A Vancouver lawyer is representing 200 ex-CFL players and then there is the Arland Bruce case to the Supreme court.
CFL players are not entitled to Workers Comp or any other type of aid, yet they pay taxes like the rest of us.

The team's trainer runs out to tend to the player, trips and blows out his knee. The trainer is eligible for workers' compensation, retraining and even long-term disability benefits, if necessary. The player isn't entitled to any of that. Former Ticats receiver Mike Morreale spent two years as president of the CFL Players' Association. He calls the workers' compensation rules "absurd." "It's fundamentally wrong to not be able to take care of your employees," said Morreale. "They come out and risk just about everything to play a sport in front of fans that pay to watch you play. "What's the downside to providing workers' compensation? The cost, obviously," Morreale said. "Someone just doesn't want to spend the money. But the upside would be tremendous because it would give players another lease on life. It's a harsh business."
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Part 3

Collision Course: Nowhere to turn for players affected by concussions
By law, CFL players aren’t eligible for workers’ compensation benefits if they’re hurt on the job

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The leagues can try to enforce all the rules and fines possible, but at end of the day it's going to need to be the players who police themselves and stop take unnecessary cheap shots just cus they've got a guy dead to rights. I'm not sure if that mentality will ever change, but it may take a generation for it to take effect, I just hope it's not to late.

Edit: All the practice rules are a must by the way, I'm not saying leagues hold no accountability, but ultimately they can't stop a guy from delivering a head shot if that's what he chooses to do fines be damned.

15

It will not change. It seems like most of the guys out there want to end another guy's career any chance they get.

It has been getting worse over the years. How many times per game do you see a guy get hit after he's already on the ground and clearly not about to move another inch? What used to be called for piling on or late hit, is now jut accepted.

16

Good article I found dealing with lack of respect for each other in today's sports world. Hockey a bit different than football but the mentality along the same lines:

For all their talk of respect, NHL players show they clearly have none for each other -This is about taking cheap shots out of the game

This isn’t about taking physical play out of the game. We’d actually like to see more of it. Instead, this is about taking cheap shots out of the game. And, frankly, all parties involved — players, officials and the league’s disciplinarians — have all failed in that regard this spring. Referees certainly seem to be reluctant to make bold calls in these playoffs, which certainly makes them look bad when the league follows with supplementary discipline.
http://nationalpost.com/sports/hockey/nhl/for-all-their-talk-of-respect-nhl-players-show-they-clearly-have-none-for-each-other
17

Yep, the human body was not designed for playing Football.

As far as what to do about it, I’m all for a blanket helmet on helmet rule outside the line and much harsher, post game play review and post play discipline.

A blanket helmet on helmet rule forces better defensive positioning, more caution when tackling which will open up scoring and an emphasis on tackles being at the hip and not hits into the chest and head.

18

There can and will be change whether from government involvement or from the interests of insurance companies beyond the public interest at hand already in the well-being of the next generation of players.

And we must accept some level of inherent risk of prolonged head injury in any sport that involves such physical contact of course.

Rugby has made changes successfully especially in the last 10 years.

Here's a summary of changes on top of existing rules that I recommend for all gridiron football that can and will take place to some degree if not exactly as stated below. College football is already marching down these roads in the US:

  1. All hits to the head of standing players are banned. This rule includes the ball carrier and the neck area.

  2. All hits to the head via blocking or otherwise are banned on ANY non-ball-carriers except those who are within the area that is bordered two yards outside of the tackles and five yards forward of the line of scrimmage (these are typically the linemen, tight ends, blocking full backs, and wingbacks).

  3. All tackles must include an attempt to wrap up the tackled player just as was taught in gridiron football until perhaps 30 years ago. No more mere shoulder tackles.

  4. Beyond the prohibition on horse collar tackles, the neck is also off limits for blocking or tackling unless the contact is incidental and secondary when the ball carrier or other player blocked or tackled is crouching below the shoulders of the opponent.

  5. Whether amateur or pro football, the first offense of any of the above is a personal foul, and includes, beyond any other penalties such as fines in current rules, also a ban in play for at least 10 minutes for the offending player assuming that the offence was not grounds for immediate disqualification. If less than 10 minutes are left in the game at the whistling of the play dead, the ban extends also to the ENTIRE first quarter of the next game as well as to any overtime. A second offence in any game, or in any three successive (need not be consecutive) games in which the player plays, requires immediate disqualification plus a suspension of one game.

19

Agreed but helmet to helmet is just one part of a big problem in football.

If you read the report on the receivers Mike Morreale, Ken Evraire and Arland Bruce it was also about the receivers putting their heads down and getting extra yardage, they aren't necessarily going helmet to helmet, they are bashing their heads against other players bodies and trying to move forward.
Hitting the ground and trying to hold on to the ball too and not putting your arms out to break your fall, your head does that.
The running backs too are more vulnerable when they are battling for yardage with their heads down.
The tacklers may be trained to turn their head to avoid tackling helmet to helmet but they are still taking hits to the helmet.
There is also the hard contact with the ground, a receiver or rb goes up for the ball is knocked off balance or gets tackled in the air comes down hard with his helmet against the ground. If they are trying to cradle the ball they aren't going to be able to put their hands down to break their fall.

It's not just helmet to helmet but helmet to body, helmet to ground. Not a lot they can to about it.

20

What you describe above Slim Jim is much of the inherent risk in play that we must accept or we do not have gridiron football. With all the interest in play and by spectators, I don't see that happening despite recent concerns for attendance at games and lower participation at the youth level in many areas.

It's the other hits to the head that must be eliminated or reduced greatly with harsher measures for offenders such as those that I spell out in my post below. Rugby has done it with some success, and gridiron football can do so as well.