Violence In Football

I claim that violence is a part of football that will never be able to be taken out without distorting the game.

From the very beginning football has had a violent streak in it. When President Theodore Roosevelt invited representatives of the Eastern football establishment to the white house he noted how he believed that the game built character, but he also expressed his concerns about the brutality and lack of sportsmanship. Football was not a game for the faint of heart, it was a real man’s game with hard hitting. At the time there was no real professional football league so college was as good as it got. These were the best of the best.

Injuries occurred often at this level of play, from broken arms to broken collar bones. Injuries like these were seen as a testimony to a man’s courage, not as much as something that needed precautions taken. It became evident that at this time that opposing teams would target impact players on the other team to better their odds of winning. Roosevelt began to worry about the sport and called again for the representatives to meet at the White House to discuss an agreement of rules. Together they created a statement which everyone said they would honor. The next season was the most injury ridden season at the time, the agreement didn’t do much. Dirty plays and cheap shot continued

Deadly motion plays might not be allowed, and targeting might not be as obvious, but it still maintains a strong element of savagery that the game was originally played with. Today players walk a fine line of what they can get away with. For a while players would violently launch their bodies at the ball carrier in order to get the runner down or knock the ball loose. Blows to the head are biggest concern among the football community today. After many seasons of playing high end hard hitting football hits to the head add up. Head trauma has started, head hunting is also prominent it todays