Data on concussions in rugby and the NFL

Data on concussions in rugby and the NFL
by plaid_pants (2019-05-23 23:23:41)

This topic started on RH yesterday, but I will continue it here since it is a generic football topic.

I found some data on NFL concussions:
NFL Concussion Data Link

from that I work out an average of 34.4 concussions per 1,000 player hours in the NFL which is 0.75 concussions per game. This includes pre-season and the playoffs. The 2018 data showed improvement at 29.3 per 1,000 player hours and 0.64 per game.

PBS Frontline has started to track NFL concussion data and have a nice report located here:
PBS Frontline NFL Concussions Link

Meanwhile, in Australia's National Rugby League, their data from 1998 through 2012 was an average of 28.3 concussions per 1,000 player hours which is 0.48 per game.

See the academic research paper here:
NRL Concussion Study Link

Would getting rid of helmets reduce the incidence of concussions? The data from the NFL and NRL suggests that the answer is not really.

Replies:

Rugby League is of course far different than Rugby Union or - Dickiebeev 2019-05-26 20:52:17
- The point was not to judge rugby, per se - JHND 2019-06-03 12:04:16
Thanks! Great info * - Raoul 2019-05-26 14:33:45
Point of Clarification on 1,000 player hours - Irish Warrior 2019-05-24 10:33:48
- Another aspect though - SixShutouts66 2019-05-24 13:16:46
  - NRL average is 300 tackles per game per team - plaid_pants 2019-05-24 17:30:48