Search
+
    The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Former footballer Ahmad Rashad supports NFL’s focus on concussions, players' long-term health

    Synopsis

    In 2013, the National Football League introduced a concussion protocol.

    ​Ahmad Rashad ​​said it is important to take care of the guys who get these concussions.​​​​​Agencies
    Ahmad Rashad said it is important to take care of the guys who get these concussions. (Image: Twitter/@NBATVAhmad)
    What puts people in seats — skull-rattling tackles and brutal machismo — also lands players in hospitals. That’s the inherent contradiction of American football, which reaches its annual crescendo on February 2 with the Super Bowl in Miami.

    It is why Ahmad Rashad, a former gridiron star, supports the National Football League’s (NFL) measures to watch for signs of trouble if a player suffers a concussion.

    “The NFL is trying to do its best to see that when a guy has a concussion, you check him and not put him back in the game. When I played and guys got concussions, they put them right back in the game,” Rashad told ETPanache when he visited Mumbai for a basketball event late last year.


    “It was a badge of courage that you played with a concussion. It was like, ‘that guy is a warrior’. That guy also can’t remember his name by the time he is 40,” Rashad said.

    Blue-collar fans as well as celebrities and CEO types will watch 200-pound giants slam into one another in the Super Bowl game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs. At the same time, three players, not yet 30, have retired in the past 10 months, choosing longterm health over sports.

    They include Rob ‘The Gronk’ Gronkowski, a popular player from Tom Brady’s New England Patriots team who could have earned millions for several more years by continuing to play.


    In 2013, in the light of increasing concern over the well-being of players, the NFL introduced a concussion protocol. According to it, a player must rest “until his signs and symptoms and neurologic examination, including cognitive and balance tests, return to baseline status”.

    “I support that they [NFL] are trying to do this, even though the appeal [of the sport] is when players are hit,” Rashad said. “You have to take care of the guys that are getting these concussions.”


    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in