Schmid sponsors bill to ban tackle football for kids seventh grade and younger

FALL RIVER — Tackle football may be a thing of the past for Massachusetts' preteen children if a bill recently filed in the state Legislature gets signed into law.

Sponsored by 8th Bristol District state Rep. Paul A. Schmid III and 20th Middlesex District state Rep. Bradley H. Jones Jr., An Act for No Organized Head Impacts to Schoolchildren would prohibit children in the seventh grade or lower grade levels from playing tackle football at school or in youth sports leagues.

Schmid — whose district includes portions of Fall River, Freetown, New Bedford, and Westport — said the bill has only just been filed and yet to be assigned to a committee for review. He explained that his decision to file the bill was motivated by growing concerns around traumatic brain injury and the lack of regulations surrounding such injuries in youth football.

“Soccer has age restrictions for head contact. Lacrosse has age restrictions. Hockey has age restrictions for head contact. Football doesn’t,” he said. “We otherwise wouldn’t want to get involved in youth sports, but it turns out (football) doesn’t have a national federation like those other sports.”

As Schmid put it, it’s up to each youth league or school program to create and enforce policies for full-contact participation and associated injuries.

As the bill is currently written, no child in grade seven or under shall play, practice or otherwise participate in organized tackle football. They would still be allowed to participate in football that does not involve tackling, such as touch or flag football.

Any school, league, or other entity found in violation of the proposed law would be subject to a civil penalty of no more than $2,000. The penalty increases to $5,000 for subsequent violations within 12 months of the initial violation and to $10,000 for any violation that directly results in serious physical harm to a participant.

Schmid said that children at a seventh grade level were selected as a cutoff because that was about the age other sports drew the line at full-contact participation.

“It’s all about kids’ health and we have a number of studies that say that repeated contacts to the head are very bad for you and the younger that starts, the worse it is,” said Schmid. “It seems that if you start playing tackle football in high school, you’re in a much better place than if you started earlier.”

A 2017 University of Texas study found that school-aged football players with a history of concussion and high impact exposure can undergo brain changes after just one season of play. Though numerous studies have indicated a link between sports-related concussions and long-term brain health, Schmid’s bill is not without its opponents.

Ron Gagnon, who serves as president of the Fall River Falcons youth football league, is among those questioning the value of the legislation.

“I think it’s reactionary,” he said. “If a parent or a guardian chooses not to allow their child to play, that’s fine. But for someone to dictate to everyone else that something should be eliminated is something else.”

Noting the serious concerns of head injuries in football, Gagnon pointed out that his league has made such injuries an important focus in the program. Children are taught to tackle and block using their arms and shoulders rather than their head. If a child ever describes feeling dizzy or lightheaded, Gagnon said they are removed from play. If diagnosed with a concussion, the league then works with the child’s pediatrician to develop a recovery schedule determining when they can return to the field.

“I would say that last year I had five or six out of 200 kids with possible concussions,” he said. “It’s not the norm. It’s not a high number, at least in our organization.”

Joshua Darlington, who serves as president of the Somerset Youth Flag Football League, said part of the reason why his league does not allow tackling is because of the fear of concussion and brain injury. However, Darlington also questioned whether the state should prohibit certain age groups from playing tackle football.

“I don’t think it’s right for someone else to make that decision for a family,” he said. “With the advances they’re making in the equipment kids are wearing and how they’re teaching how to tackle, it lowers the risk of concussion by margins.”

A bill similar to Schmid’s known as the “Safe Youth Football Act” had been proposed by state legislators in California last year and attracted organized opposition from officials associated with Pop Warner youth football. The bill was withdrawn before ever being voted on.

When asked how expects the bill to be received by the state’s youth sports community, Schmid said, “We hope that we have started a conversation and I think we will hear from many points of view. We always want to come back to the guiding principal here and that’s what right for our kids."