Alcohol and fast food sponsorship in sporting clubs with junior teams participating in the 'Good Sports' program: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine: alcohol and fast food sponsorship of junior community sporting clubs; the association between sponsorship and club characteristics; and parent and club representative attitudes toward sponsorship. METHODS: A cross-sectional telephone survey of representatives from junior community football clubs across New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, and parents/carers of junior club members. Participants were from junior teams with Level 3 accreditation in the 'Good Sports' program. RESULTS: A total of 79 club representatives and 297 parents completed the survey. Half of participating clubs (49%) were sponsored by the alcohol industry and one-quarter (27%) were sponsored by the fast food industry. In multivariate analyses, the odds of alcohol sponsorship among rugby league clubs was 7.4 (95%CI: 1.8-31.0, p=<0.006) that of AFL clubs, and clubs located in regional areas were more likely than those in major cities to receive fast food industry sponsorship (OR= 9.1; 95%CI: 1.0-84.0, p=0.05). The majority (78-81%) of club representatives and parents were supportive of restrictions to prohibit certain alcohol sponsorship practices, but a minority (42%) were supportive of restrictions to prohibit certain fast food sponsorship practices. CONCLUSIONS: Large proportions of community sports clubs with junior members are sponsored by the alcohol industry and the fast food industry. There is greater acceptability for prohibiting sponsorship from the alcohol industry than the fast food industry. Implications for public health: Health promotion efforts should focus on reducing alcohol industry and fast food industry sponsorship of junior sports clubs.

The impact of race relations on NFL attendance: An econometric analysis.

Recent protests by athletes focused on raising awareness of social issues and injustices, such as the Black Lives Matter protests led by Colin Kaepernick of the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers, have generated a great deal of attention and debate within society. Notably, the protests conducted by these players before games in the 2016 and 2017 seasons became such a sensational topic, that extraordinary amounts of attention was paid to it by the media, consumers, and even politicians who often denounced the players as being unpatriotic. Against this backdrop, the current research examines whether fluctuations in attendance at National Football League games are associated with explicit attitudes towards race, implicit racial prejudice, and racial animus within a population. Specifically, using multiple measures of racial attitudes as part of an econometric model estimating attendance at games, the results suggest that having a higher level of implicit bias in a market leads to a decline in consumer interest in attending games. Additionally, using interaction effects, it is found that while protests generally reduced the negative effects of implicit bias on attendance, markets with lower levels of implicit bias actually had greater declines of attendance during the protests. From this, the current study advances the understanding of racial attitudes and racial animus, and its impact on consumer behavior at the regional level. That is, this research highlights that racial sentiments in a local market were able to predict changes in market behaviors, suggesting that race relations can have wide reaching impacts.

Injury Risk in New Zealand Rugby Union: A Nationwide Study of Injury Insurance Claims from 2005 to 2017.

OBJECTIVES: The Accident Compensation Corporation is a compulsory, 24-h, no-fault personal injury insurance scheme in New Zealand. The purpose of this large-scale retrospective cohort study was to use Accident Compensation Corporation records to provide information about rugby injury epidemiology in New Zealand, with a focus on describing differences in risk by age and gender. METHODS: A total of 635,657 rugby injury claims were made to the Accident Compensation Corporation for players aged 5-40 years over the period 2005-2017. Information about player numbers and estimates of player exposure was obtained from New Zealand Rugby, the administrative organisation for rugby in New Zealand. RESULTS: Over three quarters of claims (76%) were for soft-tissue injuries, with 11% resulting from fractures or dislocations, 6.7% from lacerations, 3.1% from concussions and 2.0% from dental injuries. Body regions injured included shoulder (14%), knee (14%), wrist/hand (13%), neck/spine (13%), head/face (12%), leg (11%) and ankle (10%). The probability of a player making at least one injury claim in a season (expressed as a percentage) was calculated under the assumption that the incidence of claims follows a Poisson distribution. Players aged 5-6 years had a probability of making at least one claim per season of 1.0%, compared to 8.3% for players aged 7-12 years, 35% for age 13-17 years, 53% for age 18-20 years, 57% for age 21-30 years and 47% for age 31-40 years. The overall probability of making at least one claim per season across all age groups was 29%. The relative claim rate for adults (players aged 18 years and over) was 3.92 (90% confidence interval 3.90-3.94) times that of children. Ten percent of players were female, and they sustained 6% of the injuries. Overall, the relative claim rate for female players was 0.57 times that of male players (90% confidence interval 0.56-0.58). The relative claim rate of female to male players tended to increase with age. There were very few female players aged over 30 years; however, those who did play had higher claim rates than male players of the same age group (1.49; 90% confidence interval 1.45-1.53). CONCLUSIONS: Injuries resulting from rugby are distributed across the body, and most of the claims are for soft-tissue injuries. Rates of injury increase rapidly through the teenage years until the early 20 s; for male players they then decrease until the mid-30 s. For female players, the injury rate does not decrease as players move into their 30 s. Combining Accident Compensation Corporation injury claim data with national player registration data provides useful information about the risks faced by New Zealand's community rugby players, and the insights derived are used in the development of rugby injury prevention programme content.

Overreaction in Football Wagers.

Football scores are an imperfect measure of a team's ability, and consequently exaggerate differences in abilities. Those teams that perform the best and the worst are not really so far from average in their ability; thus their future performances regress to the mean. Betting data indicate that gamblers do not fully account for this regression.

What is the Value of a National Football League Draft Pick? An Analysis Based on Changes Made in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Kraeutler, MJ, Carver, TJ, Belk, JW, and McCarty, EC. What is the value of a National Football League draft pick? An analysis based on changes made in the collective bargaining agreement. J Strength Cond Res 32(6): 1656-1661, 2018-The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the value of players drafted in early rounds of the National Football League (NFL) Draft since the new collective bargaining agreement began in 2011. The NFL's player statistics database and database of player contract details were searched for players drafted in the first 3 rounds of the 2011 to 2013 NFL Drafts. Performance outcomes specific to each position were divided by each player's salary to calculate a value statistic. Various demographics, NFL Combine results, and total number of games missed because of injury were also recorded for each player. These statistics were compared within each position between players selected in the first round of the NFL Draft (group A) vs. those drafted in the second or third round (group B). A total of 147 players were included (group A 35, group B 112). Overall, players in group A were significantly taller (p ≤ 0.01) and heavier (p = 0.037) than players in group B. Group B demonstrated significantly greater value statistics than group A for quarterbacks (p = 0.028), wide receivers (p ≤ 0.001), defensive tackles (p = 0.019), and cornerbacks (p ≤ 0.001). No significant differences were found between groups with regard to number of games missed because of injury. Players drafted in the second or third rounds of the NFL Draft often carry more value than those drafted in the first round. NFL teams may wish to more frequently trade down in the Draft rather than trading up.

Football experts versus sports economists: Whose forecasts are better?

Given the uncertainty of outcome in sport, predicting the outcome of sporting contests is a major topic in sport sciences. This study examines the accuracy of expert predictions in the German Bundesliga and compares their predictions to those of sports economists. Prior to the start of each season, a set of distinguished experts (head coaches and players) express their subjective evaluations of the teams in school grades. While experts may be driven by irrational sentiments and may therefore systematically over- or underestimate specific teams, sports economists use observable characteristics to predict season outcomes. The latter typically use team wage bills given the positive pay-performance relationship as well as other factors (average team age, tenure, appearances on national team, and attendance). Using data from 15 consecutive Bundesliga seasons, the predictive accuracy of expert evaluations and sports economists is analysed. The results of separate estimations show that relative grade and relative wage bill significantly affect relative points, while age, tenure, appearances, and attendance are insignificant. In a joint model, relative grade and relative wage bill are still statistically significant, suggesting that the two types of predictions are complements rather than substitutes. Consequently, football experts and sports economists seem to rely on completely different sources of information when making their predictions.

The economic burden of time-loss injuries to youth players participating in week-long rugby union tournaments.

OBJECTIVES: Rugby Union ("rugby") is a popular sport with high injury risk. Burden of injury is described by the incidence and severity of injury. However reports have ignored the monetary cost of injuries. Therefore the aim of this study was to describe the monetary cost associated with youth rugby injuries. DESIGN: This descriptive study quantified medical treatments of injured players at the South African Rugby Union Youth tournaments in 2011/2012 and the days of work parents missed as a result of the injuries. A health insurer used these data to calculate associated costs. METHODS: Legal guardians of the 421 injured players were contacted telephonically on a weekly basis until they returned to play. Treatments costs were estimated in South African Rands based on 2013 insurance rates and converted to US$ using purchasing power parities. RESULTS: Of the 3652 players, 2% (n=71) sought medical care after the tournament. For these players, average treatment costs were high (US$731 per player, 95% CI: US$425-US$1096), with fractures being the most expensive type of injury. Players with medical insurance had higher costs (US$937, 95% CI: US$486-US$1500) than those without (US$220, 95% CI: US$145-US$302). CONCLUSIONS: Although a minority of players sought follow-up treatment after the tournaments, the cost of these injuries was high. Players without medical insurance having lower costs may indicate that these players did not receive adequate treatment for their injuries. Injury prevention efforts should consider injuries with high costs and the treatment of players without medical insurance.

A systematic review of concussion in rugby league.

OBJECTIVES: Concussion remains one of the inherent risks of participation in rugby league. While other injuries incurred by rugby league players have been well studied, less focus and attention has been directed towards concussion. REVIEW METHOD: The current review examined all articles published in English from 1900 up to June 2013 pertaining to concussion in rugby league players. DATA SOURCES: Publications were retrieved via six databases using the key search terms: rugby league, league, football; in combination with injury terms: athletic injuries, concussion, sports concussion, sports-related concussion, brain concussion, brain injury, brain injuries, mild traumatic brain injury, mTBI, traumatic brain injury, TBI, craniocerebral trauma, head injury and brain damage. Observational, cohort, correlational, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were all included. RESULTS: 199 rugby league injury publications were identified. 39 (20%) were related in some way to concussion. Of the 39 identified articles, 6 (15%) had the main aim of evaluating concussion, while the other 33 reported on concussion incidence as part of overall injury data analyses. Rugby league concussion incidence rates vary widely from 0.0 to 40.0/1000 playing hours, depending on the definition of injury (time loss vs no time loss). The incidence rates vary across match play versus training session, seasons (winter vs summer) and playing position (forwards vs backs). The ball carrier has been found to be at greater risk for injury than tacklers. Concussion accounts for 29% of all injuries associated with illegal play, but only 9% of injuries sustained in legal play. CONCLUSIONS: In comparison with other collision sports, research evaluating concussion in rugby league is limited. With such limited published rugby league data, there are many aspects of concussion that require attention, and future research may be directed towards these unanswered questions.

The current state of NCAA Division I collegiate strength facilities: size, equipment, budget, staffing, and football status.

Strength and conditioning training programs are essential components of athletic performance, and the effectiveness of these programs can be linked to the strength and conditioning facilities (SCFs) used by athletes. The primary purpose of this study was to provide a statistical overview of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I SCFs, equipment and maintenance budget, and the relationship between SCF budget and staffing space, and equipment. The secondary purpose was to note differences in SCFs between those schools with and without football programs. An 84-item online survey instrument, developed with expert input from certified strength professionals, was used to collect data regarding the SCFs in NCAA Division I universities. A total of 110 valid and complete surveys were returned for a response rate of 38.6%. Results of Pearson's χ2 analysis demonstrated that the larger reported annual equipment budgets were associated with larger SCFs (χ2 = 451.4, p ≤ 0.001), greater maximum safe capacity of athletes using the facility (χ2 = 366.9, p ≤ 0.001), increased numbers of full-time coaches (χ2 = 224.2, p ≤ 0.001), and increased number of graduate assistant or intern coaches (χ2 = 102.9, p ≤ 0.001). Based on these data, it can be suggested to athletic administrators and strength and conditioning professionals at the collegiate level that budgets need to be re-evaluated as the number of personnel available to monitor student-athletes and the size and safe capacity of the facility are related to the ability of the strength and conditioning staff to safely and adequately perform their duties.

Dazed and confused: sports medicine, conflicts of interest, and concussion management.

Professional sports with high rates of concussion have become increasingly concerned about the long-term effects of multiple head injuries. In this context, return-to-play decisions about concussion generate considerable ethical tensions for sports physicians. Team doctors clearly have an obligation to the welfare of their patient (the injured athlete) but they also have an obligation to their employer (the team), whose primary interest is typically success through winning. At times, a team's interest in winning may not accord with the welfare of an injured player, particularly when it comes to decisions about returning to play after injury. Australia's two most popular professional football codes-rugby league and Australian Rules football-have adopted guidelines that prohibit concussed players from continuing to play on the same day. I suggest that conflicts of interest between doctors, patients, and teams may present a substantial obstacle to the proper adherence of concussion guidelines. Concussion management guidelines implemented by a sport's governing body do not necessarily remove or resolve conflicts of interest in the doctor-patient-team triad. The instigation of a concussion exclusion rule appears to add a fourth party to this triad (the National Rugby League or the Australian Football League). In some instances, when conflicts of interest among stakeholders are ignored or insufficiently managed, they may facilitate attempts at circumventing concussion management guidelines to the detriment of player welfare.

The financial cost of hamstring strain injuries in the Australian Football League.

BACKGROUND: Hamstring strain injuries (HSIs) have remained the most prevalent injury in the Australian Football League (AFL) over the past 21 regular seasons. The effect of HSIs in sports is often expressed as regular season games missed due to injury. However, the financial cost of athletes missing games due to injury has not been investigated. The aim of this report is to estimate the financial cost of games missed due to HSIs in the AFL. METHOD: Data were collected using publicly available information from the AFL's injury report and the official AFL annual report for the past 10 competitive AFL seasons. Average athlete salary and injury epidemiology data were used to determine the average yearly financial cost of HSIs for AFL clubs and the average financial cost of a single HSI over this time period. RESULTS: Across the observed period, average yearly financial cost of HSIs per club increased by 71% compared with a 43% increase in average yearly athlete salary. Over the same time period the average financial cost of a single HSI increased by 56% from $A25,603 in 2003 to $A40,021 in 2012, despite little change in the HSI rates during the period. CONCLUSIONS: The observed increased financial cost of HSIs was ultimately explained by the failure of teams to decrease HSI rates, but coupled with increases in athlete salaries over the past 10 season. The information presented in this report highlights the financial cost of HSIs and other sporting injuries, raising greater awareness and the need for further funding for research into injury prevention strategies to maximise economical return for investment in athletes.

Alcohol sponsorship of community football clubs: the current situation.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: There is accumulating evidence supporting a link between alcohol industry sponsorship and alcohol-related problems in both community and elite-level sports. Little is known, however, about the current status of such sponsorship, particularly of community sport. This study aimed to assess associations between alcohol industry sponsorship and different community football clubs in Australia. METHODS: The study involved 101 community football clubs across New South Wales, Australia. One representative from each club took part in a cross-sectional telephone survey designed to assess club (football code, number of players, socioeconomic and geographic descriptors) and alcohol industry sponsorship (money, equipment, free alcohol or discounted alcohol) characteristics. Chi-square analysis was used to test associations between club characteristics, and: i) any alcohol industry sponsorship; and ii) type of sponsorship. RESULTS: Eighty-eight per cent of clubs reported receiving sponsorship from the alcohol industry, and most clubs (82%) were sponsored by a licensed premises. There were no significant associations between club characteristics and source of alcohol industry sponsorship. However, small clubs were found to be significantly more likely to receive free or discounted alcohol sponsorship than larger clubs (p=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study suggests a significant presence of alcohol industry sponsorship among community football clubs in Australia.

Sports-related concussions and the Louisiana Youth Concussion Act.

Concussion, also referred to as mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), is defined as a "complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by traumatic biomechanical forces." Various symptoms may be observed in patients with concussions. All of these might not be evident at the time of the injury and be intermittent in their nature. It is estimated that 300,000 of the yearly TBIs in the United States are sports-related, the second leading cause for TBIs after motor vehicle accidents among people aged 15 to 24 years old. Due to some recently reported high profile injuries and deaths of sports personalities, sports-related concussion has seen increasing media and public interest in the last decade. We review the role of football in youth concussions and analyze the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2007 to 2009 to elucidate the outcome and costs associated with sports-related concussions of the youth in the United States. We also review the latest state legislative efforts to decrease the incidence of dangerous sports-related concussions in youth--the Louisiana Youth Concussion Act.

Race, punishment, and the Michael Vick experience.

Objective. The relationship between race and crime has been contentious, focusing primarily on offending and incarceration patterns among minorities. There has been some limited work on public perceptions of criminal punishment, and findings show that while minorities believe in the role and rule of law, they simultaneously perceive the justice system as acting in a biased and/or unfair manner. Two limitations have stalled this literature. First, research has focused mainly on criminal punishments to the neglect of noncriminal punishments. Second, most studies have not examined whether race remains salient after considering other demographic variables or discrimination and legitimacy attitudes.Methods. Using data from 400 adults, we examine how race affects perceptions of criminal punishment and subsequent reinstatement into the National Football League in the case of Michael Vick, a star professional quarterback who pled guilty to charges of operating an illegal dog-fighting ring.Results. Findings show that whites are more likely to view Vick's punishment as too soft and that he should not be reinstated, while nonwhites had the opposite views. Race remained significant after controlling for other variables believed to be related to punishment perceptions.Conclusion. Attitudes toward both criminal punishment and NFL reinstatement vary across race such that there exists important divides in how individuals perceive the system meting out punishment and subsequently reintegrating offenders back into society. These results underscore that white and nonwhites perceive the law and its administration differently.

Family violence and football: the effect of unexpected emotional cues on violent behavior.

We study the link between family violence and the emotional cues associated with wins and losses by professional football teams. We hypothesize that the risk of violence is affected by the "gain-loss" utility of game outcomes around a rationally expected reference point. Our empirical analysis uses police reports of violent incidents on Sundays during the professional football season. Controlling for the pregame point spread and the size of the local viewing audience, we find that upset losses (defeats when the home team was predicted to win by four or more points) lead to a 10% increase in the rate of at-home violence by men against their wives and girlfriends. In contrast, losses when the game was expected to be close have small and insignificant effects. Upset wins (victories when the home team was predicted to lose) also have little impact on violence, consistent with asymmetry in the gain-loss utility function. The rise in violence after an upset loss is concentrated in a narrow time window near the end of the game and is larger for more important games. We find no evidence for reference point updating based on the halftime score.