Hit the cross over the head: should footballers wear helmets in the future? – 1. FC Nuremberg

– Still on the stretcher, Tom Cross shows up: Thumbs up. The Nuremberg man has suffered a severe head injury in a DFB Cup fight against Hamburger SV. The rulers of football have only begun to deal with the topic of concussion again.

In an aerial duel, Tom Krauss from Nuremberg and Miro Muhime from Hamburger SV crashed together. The cross immediately fell to the ground, hit hard, Muhime grabbed his forehead. Referee Bastian Dankert immediately shakes hands with doctors at a DFB Cup fight on Tuesday evening. The cross is temporarily motionless on the lawn. Once again, a blow to the head in football triggers a debate about the risks in aerial combat.

With his head bandaged, Cross made everything clear during his replacement with Thums Up on a stretcher after half-time. On Wednesday morning, the 20-year-old wrote on social media: “Thank you all for the well wishes. I am fine.”

nothing serious?

“It was a moment of shock for the players who stood around it,” said their coach Robert Kloss, who himself ran to his injured player on the grass. During the scary scene, the players had made a privacy screen.

What exactly happened to the cross in a duel, which is not uncommon in football? “At first it doesn’t look like it’s anything serious,” said Klaus in the initial vague assessment after the penalty shoot-out. But it would certainly be a more serious blow.

Percussion After Skull Injury

Such cases happen again and again. 1. Felix Götz from FC Kaiserslautern was injured on Monday itself. After a collision in the game against MSV Duesburg, the brother of world champion Mario Götz suffered an injury. This was not his first head injury. In mid-August, Gotz had a hairline crack in his scalp and was initially in the intensive care unit.

The most recent guest post by Tim Meyer and Thomas Hauser was titled, “Worries are by no means trivial”. rioters. Mayer is the chairman of the medical commissions of the DFB and Uefa, since 2001 he has also been the team doctor for the national team. Hauser, in turn, is the head of the medical center on the DFB campus and a member of the medical commission.

Adjustment to the set of rules?

The doctors wrote, “If you continue to play with a concussion, you risk impaired brain function. In addition, there are signs that if you return to the field too quickly, further injuries may occur as in football.” -specific coordination may be restricted,” the doctors wrote. Two of the more recent findings.

Football’s rulers have long been concerned with accidents and heads. For example, a study on concussions in football was on the agenda of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on Wednesday.

3.5 times higher risk

The German Football League is also aware of this sensitive and important subject. The so-called baseline screenings have taken place in both German top leagues since the 2019/20 season. Neurological tests are performed prior to the season to determine possible deviations from normal health in the event of serious injuries.

The German Society for Neurology in Weimar cited a Scottish study a few days ago, according to which professional footballers have a 3.5 times higher risk of developing neurodegenerative disease in later life than the general population. This means that nerve cells are destroyed. As a result, head protection was brought into play.

“Only after this happens”

For a long time there have been players who wear helmets – but not as a precaution. Former Czech world-class goalkeeper Petr Sech decided in 2006 to always wear head protection when he was on duty for Chelsea FC and later for Arsenal FC.

In Germany, midfielder Klaus Gajsula grabbed a helmet as he broke his right zygomatic arch in a collision in 2013. Today’s SV Darmstadt professional said a long time ago: “People act only when it has already happened, not before.”