High schools drop football over disinterest, death and injuries

This follows the death this past week of Evan Murray, a 17-year-old quarterback at Warren Hills Regional High School in New Jersey.

Quote:

CBS News reports that the number of high school students playing football has dropped by more than 25,000 over the past five years. Schools in Missouri, New Jersey and Maine have either canceled or cut short their seasons because of injuries or low student interest. “One of our students suffered a head injury that put him out the rest of the season, and then we had at least one broken ankle,” Maplewood, Missouri, School Board President Nelson Mitten told CBS News. The Maplewood Blue Devils had a high school football tradition, making it to the state championships in 2010. Mitten explained to CBS News that they had to forfeit a game last year because so many players were hurt. There were only 14 active players on the roster when the season ended, down from 40 seven years ago. “The board did an assessment of interest in the program, found that there were probably insufficient students to maintain a team, and decided to cancel the team for this year,” he said. http://ift.tt/1GiENUW

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1L4YJjy