INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 9, 2012) - High school football players will be required to sit out one play if their helmet comes off during play unless the reason is directly attributable to a foul by an opposing player under a new NFHS rule for 2012.
The addition to Rule 3-5-10 was one of eight rules changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its January 20-22 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.
"The committee made this rules change after reviewing data from multiple states regarding the frequency of helmets coming off during live-ball play," said Julian Tackett, chair of the Football Rules Committee and commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. "It is the committee's hope that this serves notice for schools to properly fit [1] players with helmets to reduce the incidence of these situations and remind the players not to take steps that alter the fit." *
In a press release [2] on the new rule, Xenith, manufacturer of the X2 football helmet, expressed "support and gratitude" to the NFHS for the rule change, noting in its statement that its Fit Seeker® technology utilized in its helmets adapts to the head creating, it says, an instant custom fit which keeps the helmet secure during impact, thus reducing the likelihood of the helmet coming off.
For its part, another football helmet manufacturer, Shutt, said, via a response by an employee to a blog post about the new NFHS rule, that it constantly stressed that the most important factor in extracting the best performance from a helmet is to have it properly fitted.
"The game of football at the high school level is in great shape, and the committee continues to review all available data to minimize the risk to participants," Tackett said. "A hallmark to the NFHS playing rules is the constant emphasis on risk minimization, as well as historic tenets regarding the balance between offense and defense and making the rules appropriate for the levels of the coaches, players and officials."
Football is the No. 1 participatory sport for boys at the high school level with 1,134,377 participants in the 2010-11 school year, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS through its member state associations. In addition, the survey indicated there were 1,561 girls who played football in 2010-11.
* Announcement of the rule came just days before a study [3], presented to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine meeting in San Francisco, found that making sure that football helmets fit properly, and that those with air bladder linings are properly inflated, may be two of the simplest but most effective ways to minimize the risk of concussion and catastrophic brain injury in the sport.
Updated February 23, 2012
Links:
[1] https://www.momsteam.com/node/4457
[2] http://www.xenith.com/mission_control/assets/creative/2012/02/Helmets-Off-and-NFHS-Xenith-Response.pdf
[3] https://www.momsteam.com/node/4427