While a case can be made for either sport, the statistics seem to suggest that soccer is a little safer than football. My personal opinion is that soccer is safer for children because football does seem to produce slightly more concussion-related injuries. But, let's throw out a couple different statistics out there and I'll let you decide which sport you feel more comfortable with:
- The journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics just published a fascinating examination of emergency room visits for concussions from 2001 to 2005 in 100 US hospitals among kids aged 8 to 19. For kids between 8-13, 10% of all sports-related concussions were from football while soccer was at about 4%.
- In a recent study, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission examined athletic injuries on a sport-by-sport basis. It found that organized football 5-to-15 year-olds had 12 % fewer injuries per capita than organized soccer for the same age group.
- BUT according to a Loyola University Study based on 2005 data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Football was ranked the 3rd most dangerous sport to children with Soccer nipping at its heels at #4.
- A recent survey found that among athletes ages 5 to 14 years, 28 percent of football players & 22 percent of soccer players have been injured while playing their respective sports.
Now, I don't mean to paint a picture where Youth Football is some kind of scary youth-injury monster. Fortunately, football equipment for kids have gotten increasingly better. The same companies who manufacture equipment for the colleges and pro teams make equipment for kids. Beyond the basic pads,Pop Warner footbal requires that players wear vests to protect their ribs and long Lycra girdles over all the padding to keep the pads from slipping. Moreover, the force generated in Pop Warner football is much less than at any other level (Force = mass x acceleration). Children weigh much less and do not produce as much speed as high school, college, and pro level players. This leads to less forceful collisons than the bone-crushing collisons most of us see on tv.
In any case, I think it's important to do your own research on the precautionary measures needed for each sport and that your child always wears the proper saftey equipment. I hope I didn't scare you away from either sport and I wish your child the best of luck in which ever sport he enrolls in. Maybe even both!
They are both very fun and dangerous sports. I would suggest taking your kid down to the local park and trying both of the sports. Let him decide which one he likes more. I have personally done both sports and have had zero injuries and football. In soccer I have had multiple injuries. I have gone home crying because i had so many bruises. Soccer has left the most physical damage to me.
although soccer is regarded as a gentleman's game, i would like to bring to your attention that all games have a certain amount of injury attached to them. it is by the grace of god that we are protected. be that as it may, i feel that one should allow the son to make a choice and what he feels happier with. we may guide them - allow him to experience both and then you can say that he should opt for soccer.
we can only hope for the best.
I remember one golf tournament where the golfer knocked out onother when he hit him across the field with the ball! these things happen.
Both soccer and football have inherent risks.
Safe play can reduce many of these risks.
Rather then searching for the superior sport, check out the prospective coach:
Does he or she encourage safe play?
Do he or she allow or encourage head - contact?
Does he or she demand excessive practice?
How conscious is he or she of safety issues?
First off, I would let your child try both and see which is more fun to them. I personally have played both and prefer soccer, you get more play time, more ball time, and there are less injuries in youth soccer. Although once in professional, soccer and catch up to football very quickly in injuries. Football can be more dangerous than soccer, because of all the contact, but football players also have more rules, and padding. Soccer players have shin guards, but other than that, nothing protects their heads from the soccer ball, or other players. Plus younger kids often collide , because well, they're little kids. Now in my case, I never got a concussion, and I headed the ball often, but i did eventually have foot problems. But these come with both sports, so I guess it truly depends on the age, and gender of your child. I am going to guess male since you asked about football, but I shouldn't assume anything. The older the child, the more injuries you will get in soccer, usually between 12- PRO is when soccer players witness often injuries, football players- injuries can start from the age of five, and just get worse at the age of 12. This is just my opinion, and my experience, the decision is of course between you and your child.
BTW, I am about to become an eighth grader, and have not fully lived out my life as a soccer player, but I have played since I was five, and I am now 13, and I personally believe soccer is the better and safer (In Youth) than football.