What Gets the Blame?

Unpacking Media Narratives of ACL Injury Determinants in Men’s and Women’s Professional Football

The Issue

Football (soccer) is a high-risk sport for ACL injuries. With the exponential rise in popularity of women’s football over the last decade, ACL injuries have become a common narrative in the media. Traditionally, biological explanations have dominated conversations around risks of ACL injuries. While we are seeing a rise in socio-cultural explanations for ACL injuries among the sports medicine community, we do not have a complete picture of the current state of messaging that the public receives surrounding ACL injuries.

Why this matters?

The news media is a valuable and trusted source of information for the general public. Using the dominant biological paradigm can reinforce a general understanding that women’s bodies are unideal for high-performance sport. By considering the social and physical environments, we can shift the public’s beliefs from viewing injuries as inevitable to recognizing them as preventable.

Project Aims

Through a review of relevant digital articles published by news media outlets, this study looks to find:

Explore how the media report on ACL injuries in professional football (soccer).
Identify the key narratives characterizing how the media frame the reasons for injury for women vs men athletes.