Analysis of the Modern Football Crisis: Historical Perspective and Recommendation

The modern football crisis details the concussion problem currently occurring across every facet of American football, from the professional level all the way down to the youth game. A contemporary and polarizing topic, concussions in football has led many to question whether the game can survive in its present form for future generations. Can football become safer and adapt to survive this current dilemma? To understand and evaluate this problem I will first go back in time to the turn of the twentieth-century. I will analyze the history of the game and a similar health crisis that occurred in collegiate football in the early 1900s. I will then compare and contrast the twentieth-century crisis to the modern one, and analyze what lessons were learned and what can be applied in attempting to solve the concussion issue. Lastly, I will offer my own safety recommendations for the game, and provide hope that this issue can be solved to ensure football’s survive for the foreseeable future.