So repeated head trauma in boys under the age of 12 was determined to show long-term deleterious health effects? No kidding. Football, like boxing, is inherently unsafe for the participants. 

The idea of putting little boys in full pads so they can concuss themselves for hours on end says more about society and the parents. For many single-parents, football particularly becomes a proxy for absent fathers. Mothers falsely believe that football will "toughen up" their sons and give them some minimal contact with a contrived father figure.