There’s a move afoot in California to ban tackle football for kids under 12 years old. The General Assembly introduced the bill, which is aimed to protect children under 12 from brain damage and other football-related medical issues. Similar bills failed in New York and Massachusetts.
“My children have played for almost nine years now. I’ve been a team mom for every team, and I have a seven-year-old here, and we are strongly against AB 734,” Ashley Bertram, a mom of three, told officials during the public comment segment of an Assembly hearing last week.
“I believe it [the bill] was absolutely government overreach. I also think it was somebody who’s running for mayor and wanted to put their name out there with something big, so that there was name recognition for voters,” Bertram added Wednesday on “Fox & Friends First.”
The issue isn’t whether kids under 12 should be allowed to play tackle football. The issue is whether the state or parents have the right to make that choice. So it’s somewhat surprising that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) came out against the legislation.
“I am deeply concerned about the health and safety of our young athletes, but an outright ban is not the answer,” Newsom said in a statement, as Politico reported. “My administration will work with the Legislature and the bill’s author to strengthen safety in youth football — while ensuring parents have the freedom to decide which sports are most appropriate for their children.”
California Youth Football Alliance co-founder Steve Famiano said, “This is a deep issue. There’s a lot of concerns about head trauma in youth sports and especially youth football.”
“I think the intent is right, but the direction was wrong,” he continued. “And I think the governor coming out late last night with this and saying that he’s going to veto this bill if it does reach his desk sent a statement to the California legislature that it was time to kind of end this and let’s get back to work and work on youth sports safety as we have been doing for the past year.”
The Assembly bill would have ended tackling for football players under age 12. For opponents, tampering with something as venerated as football was proof that California is the ultimate nanny state. Passing it was made harder in an election year, when Republicans are itching for examples that Democrats are out of touch with most Americans.
“Football is the number one thing on TV. It’s an economic driver across our economy for advertising dollars and teams and athletes and coaches,” said Douglas Herman, a Democratic strategist in Los Angeles. “This is a legislative overreach that makes California conform to the stereotype that everyone wants to have.”
If the cleats fit…
My parents back in the 1960s wouldn’t let me or my six brothers play tackle football until we graduated from high school. And I know to this day that there are parents who won’t let their child play.
But the ban is coming. The NFL is heavily promoting flag football as a game that fulfills its diversity, equity, and inclusion mandate. Youth hockey has restricted checking. Youth soccer is banning most “headers” from the game.
It’s true that contact sports, including field hockey, experience more than their fair share of serious injuries. So do male and female basketball. Why should basketball and field hockey be allowed but not pee-wee football? It doesn’t make sense.
What do you expect? It’s California.