NFL players’ safety culture is a candle burning at both ends – NFL Feature
Commissioner Roger Goodell is not a very popular figure in the National Football League (NFL) circles, no matter he is the boss. His handling of players’ safety is just like a candle that burns at both ends, and at the same time.
On one hand, he is accused of compromising players’ safety, as charged in a large number lawsuits pending hearing before different courts of law throughout the United States. On the other, his attempts of promoting culture of safety at present and future
faces a strong resistance from within.
The lobby to mention here is of some former football extremes who think the culture of hitting and roughing up players on each side during a game has always been a part and parcel of the game. They in fact call it a charm of the game, a sort of marketing
tool that ever increases its popularity graph.
It, however, speaks on the contrary of the record number of former players who suffered injuries as brutal as concussions, and then continued suffering off-field issues along with their families in the post- retirement life.
There are cases of players losing memories, sinking in depression, suffering mental agonies of all sorts, and in a couple extreme situations ended their lives with their own hands in the same wave of pain and suffering. This has led many of former players
to move courts to seek compensation from the league office over what they call its negligence, compromise and mishandling as far as players’ safety is concerned.
Mental health is a particular mention here. They do not have much to offer in support of the lobbyists who have criticised the league office for putting too much weight around promotion of protection of offensive line players. They want to see the players
being hit, and hit harder than ever before. They tend to celebrate players’ injuries, not bothered about long-term implications of them.
Here is no mention of the bounty fund that had covertly patronised the culture of brutal hitting and knocking down of the players. “Severer the hit the higher the reward” was the manifestation of the reward-for-hit programme, unearthed by the league office
earlier this year.
No one knows if such a drastic reward programme had existed in the past because the matter of players' safety had not been taken as seriously before as it has been taken now. In addition to the bounty scandal, a couple of incidents of mishandling players’
head injuries recently have prompted the need for a thorough evaluation of scanning, testing and treatment process on the sidelines during each game.
The league office now places a trainer on the sidelines during each game to help the teams’ medical staff in monitoring, assessing and treating players for concussions on the sidelines. The measure was adopted following mishandling of concussion that Cleveland
Browns quarterback Colt McCoy suffered in 2011.
Unfortunately, the Browns let the player resume game without inspection and after an inquiry the league office found a system’s failure at the team’s headquarters.
Also, the commissioner’s office banned head hits altogether during an offseason meeting, but apparently the discussion around the proposal was inconclusive.
So far, the commissioner has not been able to achieve desired results as far as players’ on-field safety is concerned, and still has a long way to go, but an important point to note here is that the NFL’s boss has defied all odds to keep his resolve to promote
culture of safety and security around the players.
No doubt players are compensated through handsome remuneration packages to play the professional league irrespective of all the risks and dangers, but playing it safe will increase their playing life and make the game more competitive and popular.
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