Safety in Soccer

Canada's soccer team surprised the world in February by winning the 2000 Gold Cup. Soccer is the world's most popular sport, with over 120 million players worldwide. The victory may raise the profile of the sport even higher in this country.

Last year, the team physician for McGill University's football and soccer teams realized he was seeing more head injuries in soccer players than in football players. Dr. Scott Delaney noticed that some soccer players were lost for the entire season. Many missed weeks of school, unable to keep up with their studies in more advanced fields.

Heading the ball is intrinsic to the game. The player's head is repeatedly struck not only by the ball but also collisions with other players. Studies show that a startling percentage of soccer players, as high as 81 per cent of those tested, have neuropsychological deficiencies of attention, concentration, memory and judgement. As many as one-third of players studied had atrophy and abnormalities of the brain, a frightening statistic.

Dr. Delaney identifies three high risk groups: those who have previously suffered a concussion, goalkeepers and children. The youngest group, eager but largely unskilled, is of particular concern. Children don't know how to head the ball safely (just above the hairline, not on the forehead or the top of the head). They have thinner skulls to protect the brain than adults, and thinner necks that don't absorb or dissipate forces applied to the head.

He recommends head protection for these players, not hard-shell protection like a bicycle helmet, but something modeled loosely on the old-style leather football helmet. No such protection is currently available on the market. The Canada Safety Council shares with Dr. Delaney the hope that a manufacturer will take up this challenge.

Source: The Gazette, November 24, 1999

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