Is The Sport of Football Truly Dying?
Mates,
Like a number of other Mgobloggers, I coach football. Sign up for the football leagues up north is set to close on Friday for this upcoming season. The numbers of kids signing up for football all over the NW part of the lower peninsula are way, way down. In our area, in the last 5 years we have gone from fielding something like 18 teams to fielding possibly 6 this year. That is an incredible drop in participation and if it is seen across the country does not bode well for our favorite sport.
As one who played football until late in life I think it would be a shame to see the demise of such an exceptional game. Perhaps it is inevitable though. Please share your experiences and insights on this topic. I am hoping for good news from you all.
XM
No doubt all the other reasons mentioned here impact participation, but another factor might be population declines. Just checked the figures for Harbor Springs and Cheboygan, and both cities experienced significant population declines over the last decade, and in fact have been declining steadily for the past century.
A good friend has family up in the U.P. and is pretty familiar with the region up there, and he says that all of the small towns are withering, with very few young people sticking around and much of the population drawing social security.
On another note, I had three kids who were more interested in going home to play Xbox. They complained that it was hot and wanted a break every ten minutes. I will leave it at this before I say something about our society that will be deemed inappropriate.
Well, I'll say it for you: a significant percentage of American kids of all economic levels, races, and ethnic groups are soft, spoiled, whiny brats who would benefit from three years of military school. And after that they can mow my lawn and then get the hell off it.
On another note, I had three kids who were more interested in going home to play Xbox. They complained that it was hot and wanted a break every ten minutes. I will leave it at this before I say something about our society that will be deemed inappropriate.
So 3 of 53 kids were more interested in playing Xbox. At a camp that parents probably forced their kids to go to. So you're generalizing society based on less than 5% of a group of kids that wanted to play video games instead of sports.
Which is funny since studies are coming out that soccer players are doing just as much damage to their melons by heading the ball.
Soccer player and coach here so I prefer that sport to participate in... but the data being revealed does make one think!
As long as great athletes can make millions of dollars by playing football (and fans continue to watch and pay for tickets) won't it continue to exist? People routinely DIE catching King crabs but Joe's Crab Shack and Red Lobster are still open.
NOPE
I think it depends on a lot of things, most of which have been mentioned already in the thread. One thing that I don't think was mentioned was the culture in your town. I live/coach in a "football town", they want their team to be great. We have parents that make their kids play football (against the wishes of the coaches, we understand football isn't for everyone). I've had kids with concussions who's parents demand that they play, even though they haven't been cleared. I pulled a kid once because he took a hit to the head and wouldn't put him back in. His parents threatened to get me fired.
We just moved our fourth and fifth graders away from full contact to padded flag. The parents flipped out. I'm talking threatened to sell their homes and move to a different town flipped out.
Our numbers are very good and getting better, but sometimes I just shake my head.
What town is this?
My home town used to be like this, but not anymore. The football culture died. It's sad to see.
They did not even have soccer when I grew up, now my high school is winning state championships in it. In the meantime, they can barely field a football team, and that team is uncompetitive.
It does not take long for things to change.
Then, a great hew and cry went up from the land of desolation and twin goal posts...a vast gnashing of teeth and chewing of cud spread from shore to shore--except in AL where, well, there just weren't enough teeth to gnash--as huddled masses mourned the demise of the Grand Gridiron.
SILENCE! A booming voice echoed...then, at first faintly, but soon A swell of emotion and cacophany of voices, chanting in unison, shattered the gloom: harbaugh, Harbaugh, HARbaugh, HARBAUGH, HARBAUGH, HARBAUGH. Salvation had come. Football was back!