No Game for Boys to Play: The History of Youth Football and the Origins of a Public Health Crisis

From the untimely deaths of young athletes to chronic disease among retired players, roiling debates over tackle football have profound implications for more than one million American boys--some as young as five years old--who play the sport every year. In this book, Kathleen Bachynski offers the first history of youth tackle football and debates over its safety. In the postwar United States, high school football was celebrated as a "moral" sport for young boys, one that promised and celebrated the creation of the honorable male citizen. Even so, Bachynski shows that throughout the twentieth century, coaches, sports equipment manufacturers, and even doctors were more concerned with "saving the game" than young boys' safety--even though injuries ranged from concussions and broken bones to paralysis and death.

By exploring sport, masculinity, and citizenship, Bachynski uncovers the cultural priorities other than child health that made a collision sport the most popular high school game for American boys. These deep-rooted beliefs continue to shape the safety debate and the possible future of youth tackle football.

Author: Kathleen Bachynski
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 11/25/2019
Pages: 296
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781469653709

Review Citation(s):
Choice 04/01/2020

About the Author
Bachynski, Kathleen: - Kathleen Bachynski is assistant professor of public health at Muhlenberg College.