SACRAMENTO, Calif — A bill to ban tackle football for kids under the age of 12 in California is moving forward.
Assembly Bill 734 could impact 4 million children who play tackle football each year.
Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) is passionate about football and is the author of the bill.
“I’m not anti-football, I love football. I grew up in Sacramento five miles from here playing Pop Warner football, flag football,” said McCarty.
He’s just as passionate about protecting kids who play it.
“A five, six, eight, 11-year-old should not be experiencing hundreds of sub-concussive hits to the head on an annual basis when there is an alternative,” said McCarty.
It's why he’s once again proposing a bill that would set the age requirement to play tackle football in California at 12 years old.
The Democratic lawmaker introduced a similar bill in 2018 that failed to pass.
Seated next to him at the committee hearing was Dr. Pulane Lucas, who lost her son, a former Stanford and NFL player, to CTE.
“Football must be played in a manner that enriches and not destroys the brains and lives of our children, and that means flag football CTE risk increases by 30% per year for tackle football players,” said Dr. Pulane Lucas.
Those against the ban said flag football is not a simple alternative.
Sean Byrd has coached youth tackle football for the Antelope Junior Titans for the last two decades. He's also a parent of seven, three of his kids play football. He said it’s more dangerous to bring older kids into the sport with no tackle experience.
“Teaching proper technique is the most important part and it’s also taking away from giving kids that don’t have much to do nothing to do at all,” said Byrd.
Coach Byrd said the state could require guardian helmets, a padded helmet over the existing helmet, as a next step instead of a ban.
Save Youth Football - California said the state is already one of the safest places for kids to play tackle football.
In 2021, the California Youth Football Act became law, setting strict rules for tackle football including no more than 30 minutes of full-contact practice a day and no more than two days of full-contact practice per week.
Steve Famianio started Save Youth Football - California back in 2018.
“Football has a place for kids that may not fit on a flag football team, so now we are cutting those kids out and saying go play something else. The government should not decide that, that should be left to individual families,” said Famiano.
The bill goes to the assembly next week. Other sports like lacrosse, soccer and hockey have already set age requirements.
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