Teaching landing skills in elite junior Australian football: evaluation of an injury prevention strategy

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a preseason physical training programme that taught landing and falling skills in improving landing skills technique and preventing injury in junior elite Australian football players.

Methods: 723 male players who participated in an under 18 elite competition were studied prospectively in a non-randomised controlled trial over two consecutive football seasons. There were 114 players in the intervention group and 609 control players. The eight session intervention programme taught players six landing, falling, and recovery skills, which were considered fundamental for safe landing in Australian football. Landing skills taught in these sessions were rated for competence by independent and blinded assessors at baseline and mid-season.

Results: Evaluation of landing skills found no significant differences between the groups at baseline. Evaluation after the intervention revealed overall improvement in landing skills, but significantly greater improvement in the intervention group (z = –7.92, p = 0.001). Players in the intervention group were significantly less likely (relative rate 0.72, 95% confidence interval 0.52 to 0.98) to sustain an injury during the season than the control group. In particular, the time to sustaining a landing injury was significantly less for the intervention group (relative rate 0.40, 95% confidence interval 0.17 to 0.92) compared with the control group.

Conclusions: Landing and falling ability can be taught to junior elite Australian football players. Players in the intervention group were protected against injury, particularly injuries related to landing and falls.

The community takes action : the Carlton residents association.

Since its streets first came to life with a clatter of hooves and rumble of carriage wheels, Carlton has become well known for its diverse ethnic and social character. From the bourgeoisie in the elegant terraces of Drummond Street to the street urchins and prostitutes of a once-seedy Bouverie Street, from student radicals at the University of Melbourne to the tailors and restaurateurs of Lygon, its residents have made the suburb an exciting and distinctive quarter of Melbourne.

Some of the city's greatest political and social controversies were played out here, including the eight-hour-day campaign of the 1850s and the Carlton Association's fight against the Housing Commission in the 1960s. Carlton's passion overflows onto the football field in support of one of Victoria's most successful football clubs.

A celebration of one of the most fascinating suburbs in Melbourne, Carlton: A History richly evokes the vibrant and colourful character of Carlton, today and yesterday.

Descriptive epidemiology of Australian football injuries presenting to sports medicine clinics

Sports injury prevention has been the focus of a number of recent public health initiatives due to the acknowledgement that sports injuries are a significant public health problem in Australia Whilst Australian football is one of the most popular participation sports in the country, only very limited data is available about football injuries The majority of sports injury data available for this sport is from hospital emergency departments and elite-level injury surveillance Overall there is a paucity of data from treatment settings other than hospitals In particular, there is a lack of information about the injuries sustained by community-level, junior and recreational Australian football participants. One good potential source of football injury data is sports medicine clinics. Analysis of injury presentations to sports medicine clinics was undertaken to provide a detailed description of the epidemiology of Australian football injuries that present to this treatment setting and to determine the implications for injury prevention in this sport. In addition, the data from sports medicine clinics was compared with existing sources of Australian football injury data to determine how representative sports medicine clinic data is of other football injury data sources and to provide recommendations for future injury surveillance n Australian football. The results contained in this thesis show that Australian football is the sport most associated with injury presentation at sports medicine clinics. The majority of injured Australian football players presenting to sports medicine clinics are community-level or junior participants which suggests that sports medicine clinics are a good source of information on the injuries sustained by sub-elite football participants. Competition is the most common context in which Australian football players presenting to sports medicine clinics are injured. The major causes of injuries to Australian football players are being struck by another player, collisions and overuse. Injuries to Australian football players predominantly involve the lower limb. Adult players, players who stopped participating immediately after noticing their injury and players with overuse injuries are the most likely to sustain a more severe injury (i.e. more than four weeks before a full return to football participation and a moderate/significant amount of treatment expected). The least experienced players (five or less years of participation) are more likely to require a significant amount of treatment than the more experienced players. The prevention of lower limb injuries, injuries caused by body contact and injuries caused by overuse should be a priority for injury prevention research in Australian football due to the predominance of these injury types in the pattern of Australian football injuries Additionally, adult players, as a group, should be a focus of injury prevention activities in Australian football due to the association between age and injury severity. Overall, the pattern of Australian football injuries presenting to sports medicine clinics appears to be different than reported by club-based and hospital emergency department injury surveillance activities. However, detailed comparison of sports medicine clinic Australian football data with other sources of Australian football injury data is difficult due to the variable methods of collecting and reporting injury information used by hospital emergency department and club-based injury surveillance activities. The development of a standardised method for collecting and reporting injury data in Australian football is strongly recommended to overcome the existing limitations of data collection in this sport. In summary, sports medicine clinics provide a rich source of Australian football injury data, especially from the community and junior levels of participation. The inclusion of sports medicine clinic data provides a broader epidemiological picture of Australian football injuries. This broader understanding of the pattern of Australian football injuries provides a better basis for the development of injury prevention measures in this sport.

Football's culture of intoxication : implications for health promotion

Objectives: The objective of this is article is to examine some of the strategies and interventions designed to encourage responsible alcohol consumption within Australian Rules football clubs.
Design: Qualitative research was undertaken with fans of four fans of football teams who compete in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). In total, 93 interviews were conducted with male (80) and female (13) fans across these clubs. Interview data were thematically analysed with the assistance of the NVIVO software package. To elicit additional insight about the social meanings of drinking, researchers visited football games and a range of social functions.
Results: Analysis of the qualitative data suggests that formal interventions implemented by football clubs often prove ineffectual in encouraging responsible alcohol consumption, with more effective strategies aimed at dissuading heavy drinking being operationalized at an informal level by drinkers themselves through a number of ‘everyday’ or ‘lay’ strategies. Such strategies correspond to the broad analytical categories of ‘keeping safe’, ‘minimising damage’ and ‘taking charge’.
Conclusion: This focus on the role of lay strategies in informing health behaviours makes an important contribution to how we understand health promotion initiatives in relation to harmful drinking in sport and other contexts.

Association of risky alcohol consumption and accreditation in the 'Good Sports' alcohol management programme

Background Involvement in community sports clubs is often associated with high levels of risky alcohol consumption; however, developing prevention-focused interventions in these settings can be complex. We examined the association of reduced risky alcohol consumption with the implementation of the Good Sports Programme (GSP)—a programme that accredits clubs in three stages, on the basis of their implementation of alcohol-related harm reduction strategies.

Methods Using a cross section of football and cricket clubs, consumption was compared between clubs accredited at level 1, 2 or 3 of the GSP and clubs not accredited (92 clubs; 1924 individuals). Drinking above Australian guidelines for short-term risk (more than four standard drinks) on the last playing day prior to the survey and drinking at the club over the last 12 months at average levels exceeding short- and long-term risk (more than two standard drinks) guidelines were also examined.

Results Multilevel modelling indicated that higher accreditation stage (0, 1, 2, 3) was associated with a 0.79 reduction in the odds of risky consumption on the playing day; a 0.85 reduction in the odds for short-term risky drinking, and a 0.86 reduction in long-term risky drinking.

Conclusions The findings suggest that higher accreditation in the GSP is associated with reduced rates of risky alcohol use at a population level.

Alcohol sponsorship of community football clubs : the current situation

Issue addressed: There is accumulating evidence supporting a link between alcohol industry sponsorship and alcohol-related problems in both community and elite-level sports. Little is known, however, about the current status of such sponsorship, particularly of community sport. This study aimed to assess associations between alcohol industry sponsorship and different community football clubs in Australia.

Methods: The study involved 101 community football clubs across New South Wales, Australia. One representative from each club took part in a cross-sectional telephone survey designed to assess club (football code, number of players, socioeconomic and geographic descriptors) and alcohol industry sponsorship (money, equipment, free alcohol or discounted alcohol) characteristics. Chi-square analysis was used to test associations between club characteristics, and: i) any alcohol industry sponsorship; and ii) type of sponsorship.

Results: Eighty-eight per cent of clubs reported receiving sponsorship from the alcohol industry, and most clubs (82%) were sponsored by a licensed premises. There were no significant associations between club characteristics and source of alcohol industry sponsorship. However, small clubs were found to be significantly more likely to receive free or discounted alcohol sponsorship than larger clubs (p=0.05).

Conclusions: This exploratory study suggests a significant presence of alcohol industry sponsorship among community football clubs in Australia.

Alcohol consumption and sport: a cross-sectional study of alcohol management practices associated with at-risk alcohol consumption at community football clubs

Background
Excessive alcohol consumption is responsible for considerable harm from chronic disease and injury. Within most developed countries, members of sporting clubs participate in at-risk alcohol consumption at levels above that of communities generally. There has been limited research investigating the predictors of at-risk alcohol consumption in sporting settings, particularly at the non-elite level. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the alcohol management practices and characteristics of community football clubs and at-risk alcohol consumption by club members.

Methods
A cross sectional survey of community football club management representatives and members was conducted. Logistic regression analysis (adjusting for clustering by club) was used to determine the association between the alcohol management practices (including alcohol management policy, alcohol-related sponsorship, availability of low- and non-alcoholic drinks, and alcohol-related promotions, awards and prizes) and characteristics (football code, size and location) of sporting clubs and at-risk alcohol consumption by club members.

Results
Members of clubs that served alcohol to intoxicated people [OR: 2.23 (95% CI: 1.26-3.93)], conducted ‘happy hour’ promotions [OR: 2.84 (95% CI: 1.84-4.38)] or provided alcohol-only awards and prizes [OR: 1.80 (95% CI: 1.16-2.80)] were at significantly greater odds of consuming alcohol at risky levels than members of clubs that did not have such alcohol management practices. At-risk alcohol consumption was also more likely among members of clubs with less than 150 players compared with larger clubs [OR:1.45 (95% CI: 1.02-2.05)] and amongst members of particular football codes.

Conclusions
The findings of this study suggest a need and opportunity for the implementation of alcohol harm reduction strategies targeting specific alcohol management practices at community football clubs.

Analyses and comparison of counter-movement jump performance and self-rated recovery in state under-18s Australian Rules Football players during a national championship

Recovery of team sport athletes during multiple competitive games is an important area for strength and conditioning coaches to monitor as it facilitates for athletes to be ready to perform (11,13). Utilising athletic performance data in conjunction with self-rated reporting measures can help determine if in fact a player or team has recovered sufficiently or shown a trend towards recovery prior to a competitive match (11). Positive improvement in recovery variables can provide confidence in the effectiveness of recovery methods used and assist in determining the training schedule in order to positively manipulate the fitness-fatigue relationship (3).

Various methods of analysing the recovery of athletes have been reported in the literature and are available to the strength and conditioning coach. These include subjective, self-rated scales and perceived level of recovery questionnaires (11,12,13). Athletic performance measures during exercises such as the counter movement jump (CMJ) have also been analysed, predominantly utilising force plates to obtain kinetic data. (5,13,14). However, such equipment can be difficult to transport, requires continual calibration and is costly to purchase. A linear transducer can provide important information on CMJ variables in the assessment of athletic movements and due to its size and portability could serve as a valuable tool to assist strength and conditioning coaches, (8,10), and potentially enable the monitoring of recovery.

Previous studies have investigated the fatigue effects of competitive games in various sports (11,13,14) including Australian Rules Football (AFL) at the senior elite league level (5, 6). To the authors’ knowledge, however, there is yet to be a study investigating the recovery response in AFL players, specifically in players 18 years and under competing in the National Under 18s Championships. Australian Rules football is an extremely physically demanding and fatiguing sport where players participate in games time exceeding 120 minutes duration, covering large distances (~12-18km, position dependent) with many high intensity efforts performed at random times throughout the game (2,6,16). Hence, it would seem pertinent to analyse the fatigue effects of competitive matches in an Australian Rules Under-18’s National Championship and the subsequent recovery from these games.

The aim of this study was to analyse and compare two self-rated subjective measures of recovery; they being muscle soreness (MS) of the lower body, overall perceived total recovery (TR), and the performance measure of peak velocity (PV) obtained from a CMJ analysed with a linear transducer. Data collection occurred between rounds four and five of the Australian Football League Under-18’s National Championship, representing a four-day recovery analysis period between matches.

Football in Australia before codification, 1820–1860

Though the focus of this article is Australia, it is intended as a contribution to the debate about what was happening in the UK and elsewhere before football was codified by the Football Association in 1863. There is mounting evidence that a football culture existed far beyond the public schools and universities and that small-sided predominantly kicking games, often for monetary or other rewards, were being played by migrants to Australia who drew on their British heritage. Not only that but the game was being presented and encouraged by public authorities who would not have countenanced doing so had there been a risk of a breakdown in public order or violence accompanying the games. The article provides support for the arguments developed by Adrian Harvey in the UK.