Goal Post Injuries: The Deadly Cost of Field Storming

Quickly heralded as the "greatest field storm of all time," the win vaulted the middling Virginia Cavaliers into relevance (and their first top-25 AP ranking since 2019). It also sent 19 individuals to the hospital. Though the Virginia field storming dominated headlines this fall, its fallout was far from the worst-case scenario.

In 1993, a field storm triggered by Wisconsin football's win over the Michigan Wolverines resulted in 73 injuries, six of them critical. Ten individuals were reportedly unconscious when they were rescued from the mayhem.

Moving The Goal Posts

Though the so-called 'stampede' frequently produces injuries, the greatest danger of football field storming is not the speed and density of a crowd. It's the goal posts. Though the toppling of the 450 to 1800-lb goal posts remains a "time-honored tradition" for fans, the tradition is also deadly.

"Implications of Toppling Goal Posts in College Football: Managing Institutional Risk" from the Journal of Applied Sport Management asserts that "a considerable number of spectators engaged in tearing down goal posts have been seriously injured," including documented cases of spinal injuries, paralysis, and death.

In 1983, a woman's heart stopped after a falling goal post at a Yale football game field rush fractured her skull. In 2005, a University of Minnesota-Morris student died from head trauma after being struck by a falling goal post. A year later, a Ball State University student was permanently paralyzed below the waist when a falling goal post struck his back.

Now, back to Saturday, October 11, and to the video of the Colorado student pinned to the turf by a fallen goal post during a field rush. While his friends initially reacted with laughter, the student's fearful cries for "help" pointed to the tangible danger.

So, where do college football organizers go from here? With students often outnumbering security by staggering quantities, a field storm can sometimes feel inevitable. Fortunately, a solution could come from the goal posts themselves.

Whether by installing collapsible/retractable goal posts or vastly increasing security around the goal posts during a crowd surge, the steps taken to protect excited, often intoxicated college students from the towering metal structures could be a matter of life and death (Journal of Applied Sport Management).

Ultimately, few rules, physical barriers, or university-wide fines can stop a tidal wave of exuberant fans a fall night under the lights. Rather, institutions and conferences should focus on tangible, organizational steps to prevent disaster when the water rises.

College football may thrive on passion and unpredictability, but as history reminds us, even tradition must yield to safety.