The challenge
American football is a rapidly developing sport within the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) system, with year-on-year increases in participation. The inherently high-impact and collision-based nature of the game places athletes at elevated risk of injury; however, there is currently a lack of systematic surveillance within the UK university context. In the current absence of epidemiological data, it remains difficult to quantify the burden of injury, identify modifiable risk factors, or design evidence-based interventions to support player welfare.
Injury surveillance has played a central role in informing prevention strategies and medical provision across other collision sports, including rugby union and professional American football, where large-scale datasets have contributed to policy development, rule modifications, and improvements in protective equipment. In contrast, there is no equivalent national injury surveillance framework for BUCS American football, despite its unique context in which athletes may have variable access to medical expertise and are often balancing the dual demands of study and competition.
The present project seeks to establish the first nationwide injury surveillance system for UK university American football. By systematically collecting and analysing data across the 2025–26 season, the study will provide foundational evidence on injury incidence, type, and severity at this level of play. These findings are intended to advance understanding of injury risk in the sport, inform best practice in coaching and medical management, and contribute to the wider discourse on athlete welfare in emerging collision sports within higher education.
The approach
This project, in partnership with Leeds Beckett University, will be conducted during the 2025–26 BUCS American football season, involving all National Premier teams competing across the UK. Participating clubs will be recruited to ensure representation across multiple regions.
Injury surveillance will follow established consensus guidelines for data collection in epidemiological studies of team sports. Designated medical personnel within each team (e.g., Sports Therapist, Physiotherapist) will be provided with standardised reporting tools and training to ensure consistency. Data will be collected prospectively throughout the competitive season, with injuries defined according to time-loss and medical attention criteria. Variables recorded will include player demographics (e.g., age, position), and injury characteristics (e.g., type, location, mechanism, severity).
Exposure data (number of players participating in competition, along with match durations) will also be collected to allow calculation of injury incidence rates.
Analysis will focus on describing injury patterns and incidence, stratified by playing position, and severity. Comparisons will be made with findings from other collision sports to situate results within a broader context. The outcomes will provide the first medically reported overview of injury trends across multiple teams in UK university American football, establishing a foundation for evidence-based recommendations to enhance player safety and welfare.
The impact
The establishment of a national injury surveillance system in BUCS American football is expected to generate both immediate and long-term benefits for athletes, coaches, governing bodies, and the wider sporting community. By providing medically reported evidence on injury incidence and characteristics within UK university American football, the project will address a critical gap in the literature and inform data-driven decision making in a rapidly expanding sport.
In the short term, the findings will enable BUCS, the British American Football Association (BAFA), and individual university clubs to understand the nature and scale of injury risk in their sport. This will facilitate the development of evidence-based strategies for injury prevention, ranging from targeted coaching interventions and training load management to the refinement of protective equipment standards. Medical provision for student-athletes may also be enhanced, with clubs and institutions able to allocate resources more effectively once patterns of injury burden are better understood.
Beyond the university setting, the outcomes of this project carry wider implications for sport in the UK. Many student-athletes transition to senior and national-level play, and injury surveillance at the university stage can provide early insights into trends that may persist across levels of participation. Moreover, lessons learned from this surveillance model could inform approaches to other emerging or non-traditional collision sports in the UK higher education sector, where injury data remain scarce.
At a regional level, the project will contribute to safeguarding the wellbeing of student-athletes by promoting safer participation in a sport that continues to grow in popularity. Enhancing welfare provision supports not only athletic development but also academic progression, as injuries sustained in university sport can have consequences that extend into education, employability, and long-term health. By equipping institutions with robust data, the study aligns with broader objectives of supporting healthy and sustainable student experiences within higher education.
Internationally, the work contributes to the global discourse on injury surveillance and prevention in collision sports. While extensive surveillance systems exist in professional American football in the United States, little is known about the epidemiology of the sport outside this context, particularly in countries where the sport is emerging and infrastructures differ. Findings from this project will therefore expand the evidence base beyond North America, offering comparative insights that may inform cross-cultural understanding of injury risk, coaching practices, and welfare provision.
Finally, by embedding injury surveillance into the BUCS framework, this project creates a foundation for long-term monitoring. Establishing consistent and reliable data collection processes ensures that injury trends can be tracked across multiple seasons, allowing the impact of rule changes, training interventions, or medical initiatives to be evaluated over time. This sustainability is crucial for maximising the value of the investment and ensuring that the project has a lasting influence.
In summary, this work is important because it advances understanding of injury risk in an under-researched sport, strengthens athlete welfare provision in higher education, and contributes to international knowledge on collision sport safety. Its outcomes will resonate locally, nationally, and globally by supporting safer participation and promoting evidence-based practice in American football and beyond.
