NEW YORK _ The fight over youth tackle football continued on Tuesday, as state lawmakers heard arguments on both sides of a heated debate about the dangers and future of the sport.
Reform advocates appeared in front of the state Assembly's committee on health to recommend that tackling be banned for children ages 12 and younger. Members of the state's football community argued that such a ban would stunt players and not conclusively protect them from degenerative brain disease.
More than a dozen people spoke, all in response to the proposed John Mackey Youth Football Protection Act, a bill that would allow only flag football for players under age 13 in New York. The bill is named after Mackey, the legendary NFL Hall of Fame tight end who was a three-sport star at Hempstead High School. He died in 2001 at the age of 69 from dementia, believed to be the result of repeated head trauma as a player.
