The game is progressing nicely, but then while the referee is watching the ball a member of the opposing team deliberately gives one of your players an elbow to the head. Your player stumbles off the field with a minor concussion, but no foul is called because the referee didn't see it happen. You believe concussions would be almost entirely eliminated if the rules were better enforced.
Certainly, all referees should be thoroughly versed in the nuances of the rules, and should be trained to be aware of what's going on everywhere on the field. However, careful study of films of high-level tournament play show that foul play is a factor in only 30% of the situations that lead to concussions. That means that even if every player followed every aspect of every rule, and referees caught every single infraction, less than a third of the concussions would be prevented. The other 70% of concussions - those caused by innocent contact during heading, or falling to the ground - would still occur. The rules should be followed and enforced, but they cannot stop all accidents that lead to concussions.
As important as proper conditioning is, it cannot prevent concussions unless they are linked in some way to insufficient muscle control, and this is seldom the case. Conditioning may help lessen the severity of a small percentage of soccer concussions, but it is certainly not the whole answer.
Lighter, softer balls would reduce both the magnitude and the area of impacts, which in turn would reduce the force transferred to the head and reduce the risk of concussions. But there are two problems with this: (a) Ball impacts are a causative factor in very few concussions as it is, so not many concussions would be prevented by improving the ball, and (b) Changing the ball to reduce impact forces might also lead to changes in the method and result of heading, and thus cause undesirable modification to the game. Padding goal posts would help only in cases of direct contact with the posts, which may be serious but are infrequent. These changes will not eliminate concussions from soccer.
The best way to reduce the forces applied to the head, in as many cases as possible, is to protect the head directly. Research shows that F90 Performance Headguards reduce impact force by up to 50%. Additionally, it has been shown that nearly all concussive impacts occur within a 2 inch band circling the head at the forehead, temples, and occipital bulge, the area covered by F90 headguards. Reduction in impact force can not prevent all concussions, but if an impact is significant enough to still cause a concussion the severity will be greatly reduced.
