© Media Watch 11 (2) 323-336, 2020
ISSN 0976-0911 | E-ISSN 2249-8818
DOI: 10.15655/mw/2020/v11i2/195652
News Reporting of Injury Prevalence in Football:
A Study of Selected Nigerian Online Newspapers
Isyaku Hassan1, Rabiu Muazu Musa2, Mohd. Nazri Latiff Azmi3,
Mohamad Razali Abdullah4, & Ahmad Taufik Hidayah Abdullah5
1,3,4,5University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia
2Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
Despite the importance of football as an effective means of developing physical activity and fitness, routine data of football-related injuries are either inadequate or underreported, particularly in Nigeria. To develop an understanding of the football-related injuries and determine the prospects for prevention, logical and useful information specifying the occurrence of these incidents is necessary. Using a content analysis of 94 football-related news articles, this study identified the most commonly reported football-related injuries in Nigerian newspapers and determined their extent of coverage from agenda-setting perspectives. Altogether, five national newspapers with the highest readership and online popularity were selected using purposive sampling. Only football-related news articles were collected from the respective websites of the newspapers using internet-based searches between January 2015 and September 2019.The findings showed thatknee, ankle, and hamstring are the most commonly affected locations in football-related injuries according to the news reports.This study shows that media-based analysis of football-related injuries could supplement other methods, such as prospective and retrospective analyses, particularly in the Nigerian context.
Keywords: Agenda-setting, football, health promotion, injury, news coverage, sports, Nigeria
References
Agbo, B. O., & Chukwuma, O. (2016). Social Media Usage in Gathering and Transmission of News among Broadcast Journalists in South-East Nigeria. Media Watch, 7(3), 315-330. doi: 10.15655/mw/2016/v7i3/48546
Adickes, M. S., & Stuart, M. J. (2004). Youth football injuries. Sports medicine, 34(3), 201-207. doi:10.2165/00007256-200434030-00005
Albright, J. P., Powell, J. W., Martindale, A., Black, R., Crowley, E., Schmidt, P., & Salvaterra, G. (2004). Injury patterns in big ten conference football. The American journal of sports medicine, 32(6), 1394-1404. doi:10.1177/0363546504264159
Anderson, E., & Kian, E. M. (2012). Examining media contestation of masculinity and head trauma in the National Football League. Men and masculinities, 15(2), 152-173.doi:10.1177/1097184X11430127
Azubuike, S. O., & Okojie, O. H. (2009). An epidemiological study of football (soccer) injuries in Benin City, Nigeria. British journal of sports medicine, 43(5), 382-386.doi:10.1136/bjsm.2008.051565
Babwah, T. J. (2009). Incidence of football injury during international tournaments. Research in Sports Medicine, 17(1), 61-69. doi:10.1080/15438620802689591
Beaudouin, F., Aus der Fünten, K., Tröß, T., Reinsberger, C., & Meyer, T. (2019). Head injuries in professional male football (soccer) over 13 years: 29% lower incidence rates after a rule change (red card). British journal of sports medicine, 53(15), 948-952.doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-097217
Berchialla, P., Scarinzi, C., Snidero, S., Rahim, Y., & Gregori, D. (2012). Information extraction approaches to unconventional data sources for “Injury Surveillance System”: the case of newspapers clippings. Journal of medical systems, 36(2), 475-481.doi:10.1007/s10916-010-9492-1
Berkowitz, D (1992). Who sets the media agenda? In Kennamer, J.D., (ed). The ability of policymakers to determine news decisions. Public opinion, the press, and public policy (pp. 91-134). Westport,CT: Praeger.
Bittencourt, N. F. N., Meeuwisse, W. H., Mendonça, L. D., Nettel-Aguirre, A., Ocarino, J. M., & Fonseca, S. T. (2016). Complex systems approach for sports injuries: moving from risk factor identification to injury pattern recognition—narrative review and new concept. Br J Sports Med, 50(21), 1309-1314. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2015-095850
Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research method in education. New York: Routledge.
Coleman, R., McCombs, M., Shaw, D., & Weaver, D. (2009). Agenda setting. In K. Wahl-Jorgensen & T. Hanitzsch (Eds.), The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 147-160). New York, NY: Routledge.
Constantinou, D. (2010). Football injuries–surveillance, incidence and prevention. Continuing Medical Education, 28(5), 220-225.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Londong: Sage publications.
Dunlop, G., Ardern, C. L., Andersen, T. E., Lewin, C., Dupont, G., Ashworth, B., & McCall, A. (2019). Return-to-Play Practices Following Hamstring Injury: A Worldwide Survey of 131 Premier League Football Teams. Sports Medicine, 1-12.doi:10.1007/s40279-019-01199-2
Eirale, C., Farooq, A., Smiley, F. A., Tol, J. L., & Chalabi, H. (2013). Epidemiology of football injuries in Asia: a prospective study in Qatar. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 16(2), 113-117. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2012.07.001
Ekstrand, J., Hägglund, M., & Waldén, M. (2011). Injury incidence and injury patterns in professional football: the UEFA injury study. British journal of sports medicine, 45(7), 553-558.doi:10.1136/bjsm.2009.060582
Finch, C. F., Cook, J., Kunstler, B. E., Akram, M., & Orchard, J. (2017). Subsequent injuries are more common than injury recurrences: An analysis of 1 season of prospectively collected injuries in professional Australian football. The American journal of sports medicine, 45(8), 1921-1927. doi: 10.1177/0363546517691943
Folarin, B. (1998). Theories of mass communication: An introductory text. Ibadan: StirlingHorder Publishers.
Fortington, L. V., Bekker, S., & Finch, C. F. (2018). Online news media reporting of football-related fatalities in Australia: A matter of life and death. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 21(3), 245-249.doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.06.015
Fortington, L. V., & Finch, C. F. (2016). Death in community Australian football: A ten year national insurance claims report. PLoS one, 11(7), e0159008. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0159008
Fünten, K. A. D., Faude, O., Lensch, J., & Meyer, T. (2014). Injury characteristics in the German professional male soccer leagues after a shortened winter break. Journal of athletic training, 49(6), 786-793.
Hägglund, M. (2007). Epidemiology and prevention of football injuries (Doctoral dissertation), Linköping University, Sweden.
Hägglund, M., Waldén, M., & Ekstrand, J. (2005).Injury incidence and distribution in elite football—a prospective study of the Danish and the Swedish top divisions. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 15(1), 21-28.
Hrysomallis, C. (2013). Injury incidence, risk factors and prevention in Australian rules football. Sports medicine, 43(5), 339-354.
Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15 (9): 1277-1288.doi:10.1177/1049732305276687
Junge, A., Dvorak, J., & Graf-Baumann, T. (2004). Football injuries during the World Cup 2002. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 32(1_suppl), 23-27.
Junge, A., & Dvorak, J. (2013). Injury surveillance in the world football tournaments 1998–2012. Br J Sports Med, 47(12), 782-788.doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-092205
Kerr, Z. Y., Lynall, R. C., Mauntel, T. C., &Dompier, T. P. (2016). High school football injury rates and services by athletic trainer employment status. Journal of athletic training, 51(1), 70-73. doi:https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-51.3.02
Kim, K., & McCombs, M. (2007). News story descriptions and the public’s opinions of political candidates. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 84(2), 299-314. doi: 10.1177/107769900708400207
Kösebalaban, H. (2004). Turkish media and sport coverage: Marking the boundaries of national identity. Critique: Critical Middle Eastern Studies, 13(1), 47-64. doi: 10.1080/1066992042000189715
Krutsch, W., Memmel, C., Krutsch, V., Angele, P., Tröß, T., aus der Fünten, K., & Meyer, T. (2019). High return to competition rate following ACL injury–A 10-year media-based epidemiological injury study in men’s professional football. European journal of sport science, 1-9. doi:10.1080/17461391.2019.1648557
Leventer, L., Eek, F., Hofstetter, S., & Lames, M. (2016). Injury patterns among elite football players: a media-based analysis over 6 seasons with emphasis on playing position. International journal of sports medicine, 37(11), 898-908.
Lim, J. (2010). Convergence of attention and prominence dimensions of salience among major online newspapers. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 15 (2): 293-313. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2010.01521.x
Mallo, J., González, P., Veiga, S., & Navarro, E. (2011). Injury incidence in a Spanish sub-elite professional football team: A prospective study during four consecutive seasons. Journal of sports science & medicine, 10(4), 731-742.
McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1993). The evolution of agenda setting research: twenty five years in the marketplace of ideas. Journal of communication, 43(2), 58-67.
McCombs, M., & Shaw, D. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36 (2): 176-187. doi: 10.1086/267990
Murphy, J. C., O’Malley, E., Gissane, C., & Blake, C. (2012). Incidence of injury in Gaelic football: a 4-year prospective study. The American journal of sports medicine, 40(9), 2113-2120. doi: 10.1177/0363546512455315
Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. London: Sage Publications.
Okwuchukwu, O. G. (2014). The influence of media ownership and control on media agenda-setting in Nigeria.International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education, 7 (1): 36-45.
Onyenankeya, K., & Salawu, A. (2020). On Bended Knees: Investigative Journalism and Changing Media Culture in Nigeria. Media Watch, 11(1), 97-118.DOI: 10.15655/mw/2020/v11i1/49758
Orchard, J., & Seward, H. (2002). Epidemiology of injuries in the Australian Football League, seasons 1997–2000. British journal of sports medicine, 36(1), 39-44.doi:10.1136/bjsm.36.1.39
Owoeye, O. B. A., Aiyegbusi, A. I., Fapojuwo, O. A., Badru, O. A., & Babalola, A. R. (2017). Injuries in male and female semi-professional football (soccer) players in Nigeria: prospective study of a National Tournament. BMC research notes, 10(1), 133.
Palys, T. (2008). Purposivesampling. In L. M.Given (Ed.). The sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods. (Vol.2) (pp. 697-8). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
Potter, J. W. (2012). Media effects. California: Sage.
Rowe, D., Smelser, N. J., & Baltes, P. B. (2001). Mass media and sports. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved from: https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:11504/
Scase, E., Magarey, M. E., Chalmers, S., Heynen, M., Petkov, J., & Bailey, S. (2012). The epidemiology of injury for an elite junior Australian Football cohort. Journal of science and medicine in sport, 15(3), 207-212.doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2011.12.002
Schiffner, E., Latz, D., Grassmann, J. P., Schek, A., Thelen, S., Windolf, J., & Jungbluth, P. (2018). Anterior cruciate ligament ruptures in German elite soccer players: Epidemiology, mechanisms, and return to play. The Knee, 25(2), 219-225. doi:10.1016/j.knee.2018.01.010
Söderman, K., Adolphson, J., Lorentzon, R., & Alfredson, H. (2001). Injuries in adolescent female players in European football: a prospective study over one outdoor soccer season. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 11(5), 299-304.doi:10.1034/j.1600-0838.2001.110508.x
Soroka, S. N. (2002). Agenda-setting dynamics in Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia: UBC Press.
Sparkes, A. (1992). Writing and the textual construction of realities: Some challenges for alternative paradigms research in physical education. InResearch in physical education and sport: Exploring alternative visions, ed. A. Sparkes, 271–97. London: The Falmer Press.
Svensson, K., Eckerman, M., Alricsson, M., Magounakis, T., & Werner, S. (2016). Muscle injuries of the dominant or non-dominant leg in male football players at elite level. Br J Sports Med, 50(22), 1-12.doi:10.1136/bjsports-2016-096952.15
Top Ten Nigerian Newspapers (2019). Retrieved from http: https://answersafrica.com/top-10-nigerian-newspapers-most-read-online.html
Waldén, M., Hägglund, M., & Ekstrand, J. (2005). Injuries in Swedish elite football—a prospective study on injury definitions, risk for injury and injury pattern during 2001. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 15(2), 118-125.doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2004.00393.x
Waldén, M., Hägglund, M., Orchard, J., Kristenson, K., & Ekstrand, J. (2013). Regional differences in injury incidence in E uropean professional football. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports, 23(4), 424-430. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01409.x
Weaver, D. H. (2007). Thoughts on agenda setting, framing, and priming.Journal of Communication, 57 (1): 142-147. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00333.x
Wilson, F., Caffrey, S., King, E., Casey, K., & Gissane, C. (2007). A 6-month prospective study of injury in Gaelic football. British journal of sports medicine, 41(5), 317-321.doi:10.1136/bjsm.2006.033167
Isyaku Hassan (Ph.D., Univeristi Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia, 2018) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of Languages and Communication, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia. Dr. Isyaku designs, organizes and conducts specialized lectures and workshops on academic writing and software for qualitative data analysis in the Faculty of Languages and Communication, UniSZA. His area of research interest includes media and religion, cultural communication, health communication, and literary analysis.
Rabiu Muazu Musa (Ph.D.,Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia, 2018) is currently a Sports Science lecturer at the Centre for Fundamental and Liberal Education, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Malaysia. Dr. Rabiu is an active researcher in the area of sport performance analysis, health promotion, exercise science, as well as sports communication.
Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi (Ph.D., International Islamic University, Malaysia, 2010) is an Associate Professor of English Language in the Faculty of Languages and Communication, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia. Dr. Nazri specializes in literacy and comparative literature studies.
Mohamad Razali Abdullah (Ph.D.Universiti Putra Malaysia, 2007) is an Associate Professor of Sports Science at East Coast Environmental Research Institute, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia. Dr. Razali has been actively involved in several research activities in the area of motor control, sports biomechanics, motor performance as well as media and communication in sports.
Ahmad Taufik Hidayah Abdullah (Ph.D., Univeristi Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia, 2018) teaches English Language in the Faculty of Languages and Communication, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia. Dr. Taufik has a keen interest in research activities particularly in the area of public speaking, language literacy, error analysis, literary analysis, as well as communication studies.