Youth Football League Requires Doctor’s Note For Concussions

The national Pop Warner youth football league has issued a new rule on players who suffer from concussions, according to the Associated Press. Effective immediately, the kids’ football organization, which has over 280,000 across the country, says that no player will be allowed on the field after a head injury until he is cleared by a doctor. In addition, the rule change includes an amendment that allows assistant coaches to pull injured players if the players are the children of the head coach.

Both of these rules are attempts, the organization says, to minimize head injury consequences, especially considering that younger players are more likely to be permanently affected by brain injuries. Doctors add that the inexperience of some Pop Warner players, who range in age from five to sixteen, can be an added danger on the field.

This rule change comes on the heels of several similar football rule changes, both in the NFL and on the high school and college level. In Virginia recently, the state has implemented a law that requires schools to have a sports concussion policy and that requires injured players to be cleared by doctors before being put back into game play.