Goal Celebrations are Dangerous

After watching one of his high priced new signings score a goal in a meaningless exhibition match and proceed to celebrate with a back flip despite nursing a bad ankle, Sir Alex Ferguson apparently decided it was time to lay down the law. Nani will no longer be allowed to show off his gymnastic skills. Bah humbug, you might say. What is the harm of a player celebrating a goal? Actually it is more dangerous than you might think.

A study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine in 2005 looked at the causes of injuries in the Turkish league and found that nearly 6% were caused by goal celebrations.

Over the duration of two playing seasons, 9 of the 152 players had injured themselves while performing a post-goal celebration. The injuries ranged from ligament and muscle strains as a result of ‘Sliding’ across the field to rib and clavicle fractures as a result of the players ‘Piling Up’ on each other. The most severe injury was an ankle fracture that required surgery. These injuries took place in 9 separate games where the field was natural turf and was dry in all but the incident requiring surgery. Although each patient was enrolled in an early rehabilitation program, the average playing time lost was 5 weeks.

The study offered managers like Sir Alex some advice on how to prevent their players from injuring themselves after goals.

The researchers of this study conclude that exaggerated celebrations after making a goal, such as sliding, piling up, and tackling teammates, can result in serious injury. Not only should general guidelines be in place to prevent injuries, but coaches and team physicians should teach behavior-modification to minimize injury risks. In addition, the research suggests that stricter rules should be enforced for penalizing this type of behavior in an effort to prevent score-celebration injuries.

Behavior modification? Does that mean it is acceptable to subject your players to shock treatments after they score?

One thing is for certain. Players should be taught to remove their wedding rings before they celebrate.

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Category: World Football