‘You HAVE to remove the armor!’: Sports fans implore NFL to make changes to uniforms and be more like rugby in the wake of Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest… as they claim players currently use pads as ‘weapons’
Sports fans have called for the NFL to consider changes to uniforms after Damar Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest.
The 24-year-old Buffalo Bills player is said to have ‘made progress’ with his ventilator usage reduced from 100 percent to 50 percent late on Tuesday.
Hamlin collapsed following a collision with Cincinnati Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins on Monday and was rushed to the hospital after receiving emergency medical treatment at the stadium.
Damar Hamlin suffered an on-field cardiac arrest after colliding with Bengal’s Tee Higgins
The Bills safety may have suffered a one-in-200 million heart injury that shut off blood to his brain and triggered a cardiac arrest, doctors say.
The horrifying moment has brought attention back to what NFL players wear and whether armor should be used.
Football just like rugby involves brutal hits and powerful tackles, but the English sport does not include any padding.
The horrifying incident has brought attention back to whether armor should be used in the NFL
Some fans have questioned whether NFL players would change the way they tackled if they didn’t have the protection of armor.
One Twitter user commented: ‘I wonder what would happen if they removed all the pads and gave them leather helmets?
‘The reason they go balls to the wall with hits is because they wear armor. You do see dudes launching themselves like that in rugby. [sic]
Fans have called on the NFL to consider the use of armor within the game after Monday
‘If you don’t have all the armor they would have to tackle differently like rugby.
‘You have to remove the armor. The hit on Hamlin was due to the running back using his hard shoulder pads as a weapon. Can’t do that in rugby.’
In the conversation, another replied: ‘Football is a beautiful sport. It’s also a bloody sport, and I don’t see it carrying on for too many years like this. Something’s gotta give.
‘There was a push years ago to get the NCAA to make rugby-style tackles the standard, but I don’t think it went anywhere.’
In the wake of Hamlin’s cardiac arrest, another social media user said: ‘@NFL It’s time to revisit equipment helmet, body armor, and anything else. Don’t wait another day… reach out to these companies and scientists – let’s get it done. Thank you. #damarhamlin.
While one said: ‘I realize it’s counterintuitive but football might be safer re organ impact injuries if there was less body armor, not more.
It’s body armor that has increased the force of impact contact between players. It may protect against some injuries but not this.’
Jordon Rooney, a family friend and representative for Hamlin, revealed the family’s dismay that Higgins – the Bengals player involved in the tackle with Hamlin – was receiving a backlash online.
‘Damar’s parents were frustrated that Tee was receiving negative backlash, he reached out and supported Damar and his family,’ he told ESPN Tuesday.
ESPN’s NFL analyst Bart Scott has been branded ‘despicable’ for suggesting Higgins was at fault for lowering his helmet in the collision with Hamlin, moments before the Bills player collapsed due to a cardiac arrest.
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