In an action that I believe will become more and more common as time goes on, this Deadspin report that a Washington, DC-area high school has dropped the sport of varsity football because of a lack of players and concerns over the safety of the game.
Centennial High School in Maryland (Howard County, to be more precise) is a school of 1,500 students.
Only 14 tried out for the football team, and, after some of the seniors reached out to people in other sports, it only got to 18.
It's too easy to just pin it on the fact that the team was 1-29 the last three seasons, but the fact is, with that few players, the risks are magnified.
It is apparently the second high school, at least, to drop the sport due to no one trying out: Novato High School in northern California couldn't even get nine boys to show up for summer practices.
The number of students playing high-school 11-man football in the USA is still over one million, but is down at least 5% since 2008-2009. This, during a time when participation across all sports is still on the rise...
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