Is this the first of many to decide the risks are just too great?
It wasn’t a case of if, but when. When would a player in a sport riven with concerns over brain injuries decide that the millions of dollars on offer just weren’t worth the potential detriments to long-term quality and instead say ‘Thanks, but no thanks’?
Well, now we know.
Last night, Chris Borland, a 24-year-old middle linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers, announced he was retiring from American football after just a single season in the NFL, citing concerns over the impact of potential brain trauma.
‘I just honestly want to do what’s best for my health,’ Borland told ESPN. ‘From what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.’
As the dangers of concussion have become more understood, contact sports like American football, rugby and football have had to adapt the way they deal with head injuries, with the NFL forced to the forefront by the deaths of a number of high-profile former players, several of whom took their own lives, and the serious mental difficulties being experienced by many others following the end of their careers.
Borland is not the first player to walk away from the game voluntarily, for health reasons or otherwise, but he is the first to do so when his career was still in its infancy and before attaining financial security. He earned just over $1million in a first season in San Francisco that saw him contend for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, but the Niners can technically recoup almost half of that following his decision to walk away, a move that almost certainly has cost him the millions his talents as a tackling machine merit.
‘I feel largely the same, as sharp as I’ve ever been. For me, it’s wanting to be proactive,’ said Borland, who believes he has suffered three concussions in his life – one playing child soccer, one as a college player at Wisconsin and one before the start of last season. ‘I’m concerned that if you wait ’til you have symptoms, it’s too late.
‘There are a lot of unknowns. I can’t claim that X will happen. I just want to live a long, healthy life, and I don’t want to have any neurological diseases or die younger than I would otherwise.’
Borland’s decision has, and will likely continue to be, a huge talking point in the NFL, with most of the reaction thus far positive.
49ers young star Chris Borland's retirement after one season is the beginning of many more to come. Best wishes, kid! http://t.co/SxTwvrCPL6
— Donté Stallworth (@DonteStallworth) March 17, 2015
Pleasure playing with you Chris Borland @UWBadgers and against you for the @49ers
Praying for you. #OnWisconsin
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) March 17, 2015
https://twitter.com/JOEL9ONE/status/577658165346623488
For their part, the NFL responded to Borland’s retirement by claiming the game has never been safer, and they are almost certainly right. The spotlight has been trained on the issue of player safety and the treatment of injured players has certainly taken a more long-term, sympathetic direction, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that American football remains a furious contact sport in which high-impact collisions are still frequent, necessary and often celebrated.
So, is this a watershed moment for the NFL and its future existence? Well, every storm starts with a first raindrop but Borland remains one player out of almost 3,000 that were scheduled to attend NFL training camps this summer.
Many players have taken the apparently contradictory stance of applauding the bravery of the decision while admitting they love the game too much to make the same choice themselves, while many others feel they just don’t have the option, that the game is their only path to financial comfort.
Borland’s decision is a remarkable one, the first of its kind and perhaps a harbinger of things to come. But with the sport hitting record revenue figures on an annual basis (expected to reach $10billion in 2014) and a still unending supply of fresh-faced hopefuls, the NFL can rest easy for now.
