A pilot study of the attitudes of Australian Rules footballers towards protective headgear

doi:10.1016/S1440-2440(03)80275-X

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

Volume 6, Issue 4, December 2003, Pages 505-511

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1440-2440(03)80275-X Get rights and content

Despite a relatively high risk of injury to participants of Australian Rules football, very few players report wearing protective equipment. The aim of this paper is to describe the results of a pilot survey of the attitudes of community-level Australian Rules football players towards protective headgear and the risk of head injury. Seventy players from four purposefully chosen clubs in metropolitan Melbourne completed a self-report questionnaire at the end of the 2000-playing season. Almost all players (91.4%) reported they did not wear protective headgear during the 2000 season. Non-headgear users said that headgear was too uncomfortable (47.4%) and they didn't like it (42.1%). However, 80.0% of non-users said they would wear it if it prevented injury. The major motivation for wearing headgear was to prevent injury. Players considered rugby, boxing and driving a car, to be associated with a higher-risk of head injury than Australian Rules football. As a group, the players perceived the risk of head injury in Australian Rules football to be low to moderate when compared to other sports and activities. This partially explains why so few players wore protective headgear. Repeat surveys on a larger sample should be conducted to further understand the attitudes towards protective headgear and perceptions of risk in community-level Australian football players.

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Short ReportA pilot study of the attitudes of Australian Rules footballers towards protective headgear

J Sci Med Sport

J Scie Med Sport

Sport, age, and sex specific incidence of sports injuries in Western Australia

Br J Sports Med

Economic impact of a regulation imposing full-face protectors on adult recreational hockey players

International Journal of Consumer Safety

The national football head and neck injury registry. Report and conclusions

Journal of the American Medical Association

Short Report
A pilot study of the attitudes of Australian Rules footballers towards protective headgear