Summary

Key findings

  • In 2004–05, there were 14,147 hospitalisations resulting from injuries received while playing some form of football. This represented 30.6% of all sports and leisure-related hospitalisations during this period.
  • Australian football accounted for 30.3%, soccer for 24.0% and rugby for 20.7% of all football-related hospitalisations. • Overall, 44.3% of all those hospitalised for football-related injuries were aged 15–24 years, while 90.3% of those hospitalised were aged 34 years or younger.
  • Males accounted for 93.2% of all football-related hospitalisations.
  • Knee and lower leg and head were the most common regions injured, accounting for 47.9% of all hospitalisations.
  • Fractures were by far the most common type of injury requiring hospitalisation, accounting for 55.6% of all admissions.
  • Over one-third (36.6%) of all injuries were due to some sort of fall while another 26.4% were due to some form of contact with another person
  • The highest number of admissions occurred during May (18.1%) with 72% of all admissions occurring in the period from April to August.
  • The mean number of bed days for all hospitalisations due to football-related injuries was 1.85 days.
  • The estimated direct cost of football-related hospitalisations was close to $44 million.