Football organisation Pop Warner has revealed that they are investigating a video of a youth football drill that went viral on social media.
A clip of a collision between two youth football players at a practice in Union County went viral on the internet this week.
The video is from September, 2020, and it started trending on Twitter on Wednesday (May 12th), attracting massive criticism from many social media users and NFL athletes.
An attorney representing the practice and youth football organisation Pop Warner have since responded with their respective statements following the viral video.
A video of a youth football drill goes viral
A video of a collision between two youth football players went viral on Twitter on Wednesday, May 12th.
The incident happened at the Wesley Chapel Weddington Athletic Association in September last year but it started trending this week and attracted a lot of criticism from social media users.
The original video, which was uploaded on Twitter, has received more than 6 million views.
Christopher Duggan, who is an attorney for Wesley Chapel Weddington Athletic Association, told USA Today that the drill happened last September and explained:
“This drill occurred back in September 2020 on a team with a first year coach in the program. This was addressed immediately with the coach when it happened as this was deemed not an acceptable drill for this age group or the experience level of these players. Subsequent to the coach being removed from his position, there were no other incidents or issues with this team during the remainder of the season.”
Investigation has been launched
Youth football organisation Pop Warner has launched an investigation into the video after it went viral on social media.
Brian Heffron, spokesperson for the organisation told Fox News:
“We are deeply disturbed by this video and are investigating. If, in fact, it was Pop Warner coaches leading these drills, we will take action.
“What we saw was dangerous and, frankly, offensive to the overwhelming majority of our coaches who teach the sport the right way. We expect every coach to adhere to mandated training and focus on the proper, safe progressions of tackling techniques, including practice against dummies, particularly at such a young age. Over the past 10 years Pop Warner has instituted a number of player safety rules, and this example runs counter to our practices.”
People express concerns on social media
Many social media users and NFL players took to Twitter and expressed their concerns over the video.