[Football1]

To be more clear, it isn't -overall- head contact which is the problem. It's striking a blow on another player using the crown (top) of the helmet which causes the majority of serious neck injuries.

A classmate of mine spent the final 35 years of his life in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic (he passed away just this year, having only recovered gross arm movement). In his case, he suffered a compression C-spine injury because he didn't continue to keep his head up when stopping a ball carrier coming at him who also had his head down. It wasn't correct technique for the tackler as he's supposed to keep his head up, but the fullback who supplied most of the destructive force did exactly what was/is taught when power running inside - pick the hole then put the head down and run over tacklers.

One of the biggest problems is (in this particular incident) simple reflex. If a hit is seen coming head-on at the last second, the automatic reaction is to turn the face away (usually down).

It's a tough problem... 80 years ago when the helmets were little more than layered leather serious neck injuries were extremely uncommon. IMO, the reason is you then force the sense of survival to work -against- injury. After all who would intentionally hit someone head-on with nothing more than leather strapped to his head ?!? Of course, nowadays with larger players, weightlifting, and advanced training the speed and gross force of the game is so much greater, even at the high school level, ratcheting down the helmet quality is unlikely to be an effective answer to the problem.

You make an excellent set of points. Your friend's story is sobering and sad. So many today are literally drunk on the notion that this game cannot exist with any form that restrains the "big hit". I challenge that as a paradigm that can be moved to a more modern and less risky form of a great team sport where players and coaches are heavily incented to coach a cleaner safer game.

That same "Tom the grocery bagger" already holds the near holy responsibility to define calls every Friday night that determine outcomes of games, keep order, and eject those who earn it. Having them manage a set of rules that could literally save another person from 35 years in a chair is worth the effort - never mind saving the game.