{
  "abstract": "Policy changes, personal protective equipment (PPE) and training are the three principal approaches to primary prevention of injuries and concussions in team sports.1 The use of training strategies is often individual or collective choices of each athlete or team, whereas the use of PPE can either be mandated or a personal choice, depending on the level of play and the sport. Laws (competition rules) and policies apply to all athletes within the playing population, and as such, policy changes have been shown to be the most impactful strategy for injury prevention. Importantly, the impact of these policy changes relies on their implementation and enforcement. The monitoring and penalisation of illegal actions is an essential mechanism through which policy is implemented effectively. Without consistent enforcement, policies are unlikely to achieve the intended reductions in injury rates. Several sport-specific law changes have demonstrated significant reductions in injury rates for athletes locally, nationally and globally, including policy disallowing body checking in games in youth ice hockey at several age groups and level of play (58% lower concussion rate, 95% CI: 0.33 to 0.53),2 banning the use of arm-to-head contact in football (29% lower rate of head injuries (95% CI: 0.57 to 0.86))3 and limiting contact in American football practices (64% lower practice-related concussion rate (95% CI: 0.16 to 0.80)).4 Previously, Collins et al 5 have estimated nearly 100 000 injuries to occur in high school athletes in the USA over a 2-year period to have been as a result of illegal activity. As such, when implementing policy changes targeting competitive fixtures, the enforcement of these changes is crucial to the success of such interventions. Therefore, understanding and monitoring the penalisation of illegal actions form a key component of evaluating prevention strategies.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Health, and Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport, University of Bath, Bath, UK",
        "UK Collaborating Centre on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport, University of Bath, Bath, England, UK",
        "Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Stephen W West"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Emily Heming"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Hockey Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada",
        "Ringette Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Connie Klassen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "World Rugby Limited, County Dublin, Ireland",
        "Rugbyreferee.net, Portsmouth, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Keith Lewis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Carolyn A Emery"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Whistleblower: the front line and critical facilitator for injury prevention policy?",
  "uid": "74ea9c71-6d85-5102-8496-0e141ee5303a"
}