Australian Rules Football Injuries
Australian rules football is a sport known for its high level of physical body contact compared to other sports such as soccer and basketball. High impact collisions can occur from any direction, although deliberate collisions from front-on (known specifically as a shirtfront when the contact is body-on-body). In addition, players typically wear no protective padding of any kind except for a mouthguard (unlike the full-body gear in gridiron football codes or the shinguards in soccer). As such, injury rates tend to be high.
Soft tissue injuries are the most frequent, including injuries to the thighs and calf muscles. Osteitis pubis is a condition which particularly affects Australian rules footballers. Injuries to the knee, ankle and shoulders are also common. Hospital treated injuries account for 40 percent of all injuries.
Knee reconstructions are among the career threatening injuries for professional and amateur players. Full contact play with the potential to be tackled or bumped from any angle means that the risk of a knee being twisted or caught on a dangerous angle is high.
While many players choose not to wear protective padding, players do occasionally suffer head injury resulting in loss of consciousness however spinal injury is extremely uncommon and comparatively much lower than rugby football.
In recent years the AFL has commissioned official studies as well as introduced new rules and precautions aimed at reducing the number and severity of injuries in the sport.
The high levels of injuries that take place during games of football are so much that not only during a players' career are they susceptible to injuries, but the effects afterwards are detrimental to their health. One example of a current player (as of 2005) that has suffered a large share of injuries is Essendon champion James Hird, who has suffered virtually every injury imaginable.
In a study conducted recently of 413 retired VFL/AFL footballers, common problems amongst the group in old age included arthritis, hip replacements (including Kevin Sheedy, who has had two operations on his hip within a short space of time), and low ability to perform sport-based activities.
Steven Febey recently spoke out in Good Weekend (the magazine of the Fairfax newspaper network) detailing that his emphasis on fitness during his career had been cancelled out after his retirement, when the onset of injuries during his football career began to take their toll.
The AFL Players' Association is working on initiatives to set up a player welfare fund for after footballers' retirements.
Read more about Australian Rules Football Injuries: Serious or Career Threatening Injury Cases in The AFL
Famous quotes containing the words australian, rules, football and/or injuries:
“The Australian mind, I can state with authority, is easily boggled.”
—Charles Osborne (b. 1927)
“This is no argument against teaching manners to the young. On the contrary, it is a fine old tradition that ought to be resurrected from its current mothballs and put to work...In fact, children are much more comfortable when they know the guide rules for handling the social amenities. It’s no more fun for a child to be introduced to a strange adult and have no idea what to say or do than it is for a grownup to go to a formal dinner and have no idea what fork to use.”
—Leontine Young (20th century)
“...I’m not money hungry.... People who are rich want to be richer, but what’s the difference? You can’t take it with you. The toys get different, that’s all. The rich guys buy a football team, the poor guys buy a football. It’s all relative.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)
“Men are not only apt to forget the kindnesses and injuries that have been done them, but which is a great deal more, they hate the persons that have obliged them, and lay aside their resentments against those that have used them ill. The trouble of returning favors and revenging wrongs is a slavery, it seems, which they can very hardly submit to.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)