California Bill Set To Prohibit Minors From Playing Tackle Football

(Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

California lawmakers, Kevin McCarty and Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher have proposed a bill titled “Safe Youth Football Act.”

If passed would prohibit minors from participating in organized tackle football before entering high school.

This would change the rules of Pee Wee Football, Junior Football and Youth Football seeing as the bill would restrict the organizations from tackling.

Los Angeles Times’ Patrick McGreevy, reported Gonzalez Fletcher’s statement;

“The science is clear: head injuries sustained at a young age can harm kids for the rest of their lives […] developing skills through flag football before high school is sound public policy from a health and safety standpoint.”

The California Interscholastic Federation released findings last August that showed a 3.12 percent drop in high school football participation year-over-year and a 10 percent dip over the last 10 years, according to Ann Killion from the San Francisco Chronicle‘s.

Killion noted:

“[The] decreases in participation coincide with elevated concerns about concussions and brain injuries associated with football.”

Last month, the NFL announced there were 281 reported concussions in 2017. That’s a 15.6 percent increase over the league’s five-year average, according to USA Today‘s Lindsay H. Jones and Lorenzo Reyes.