The New York Times looked at the interest in high school football as players are injured nationally, some seriously, and featured Maplewood Richmond Heights, which cut its program in June due to low numbers and injuries in the previous season.
MRH Board President Nelson Mitten commented: “Over all, it was, ‘Can we field a team that is competitive and safe for the kids to perform?’ ” Mitten told the NTY.
He said said players’ injuries last season included a broken ankle, a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a significant head injury. “Whenever you have anything like that, you have to be a responsible board and discuss what we can do to make sure we can field a team.”
The number of high school football players has fallen to about 1.08 million this year, a 2.4 percent decline from five years ago, and Pop Warner football is seeing greater decline, according to the NYT.
See also: MRH soccer is in the spotlight, Everyone gets in on MRH soccer win
No football-related deaths have occurred at MRH, as at other schools, but parents are concerned about injuries and more are enrolling their children in soccer youth programs, as a result fewer are interested in high school football.
This year the Maplewood Richmond Heights homecoming game will be at a soccer game on Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. against Lift for Life — not a football game — as it’s been for decades.
MRH parent Betty Pearson told the NYT her oldest son played football but her youngest now plays soccer.
Mitten said just 15 students said they would try out for the team this season, including only five returning players. No parents attended board meetings to complain.
“When you simply don’t have the players, it’s obvious,” Mitten told the NYT. “I had two parents informally raise concerns, but this was more of a student-participation-driven decision. It withered.”
Read the full post in The New York Times. CBS News covered the story also.
