gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

, spearing is an illegal tackling technique in which a player makes initial contact with the crown of their helmet by using their body as a spear (head out, arms by their side). An offensive player or a defensive player can be penalized for spear tackling. Spearing from an offensive player will result in a 15-yard penalty, and spearing from a defensive player will also result in an automatic first-down for the offense.

1976 rule change

In the year 1976, the tackling technique known as spearing was banned across the board. Associations such as the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), and the

National Federation of State High School Associations The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. NFHS's headquarters are located in White River State Park in Indi ...

(NFSHSA) made it illegal to perform any kind of spearing or head down contact to another player. The

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

only made "intentional" spearing illegal. This was changed to the NFL rule in 2006. This is mainly due to the severe injuries players would sustain upon using the spearing technique. Although this ban might have decreased the number of head injuries, players' use of spearing still persists.

Injury risks

Within the sport of gridiron football, the spearing technique was responsible for most of the catastrophic cervical spinal cord injuries and

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

s, which is a result of axial loading. Recognition of such injuries resulted in rule changes in 1976, banning such tackles for high school and college football, after which incidence of these injuries dropped significantly. For example, incidence of quadriplegia decreased from 2.24 and 10.66 per 700 teams in high school and college football in 1976, to 1.30 and 2.66 per 700 teams in 1977.

References

{{Gridiron football penalties Banned sports tactics American football terminology Canadian football terminology