Anyways, there was this upperclassman girl named Beth, who had been a part of the marching band for the past 3 years, and for her senior year she decided she wanted to play HS tackle football with the boys. At the time, I think most people saw it as a a feminist thing and everyone agreed it was purely political.
Well there we were on the 2nd or so day of practice bright and early in the morning, and all the JV and Varsity were dressed out and waiting for the coaches outside the fieldhouse. Beth shows up in pads (I have no clue where she changed into her uniform), and she was standing separate from the rest.
It took no time at all for one of the team bullies to get in her face. He started yelling at her about how tough she thought she was and what she was trying to accomplish... and he took it a step beyond and got physical, starting by shoving her, and spiralling out of control with others coming over jeering him on, where upon he just went and grabbed her by the shoulderpads and slammed her to the ground and tackled her.
None of the other underclassmen could believe what they were seeing... the coaches came running out of the fieldhouse and pulled him off of her.
The whole thing was pretty disgusting... on many different levels. In hindsight, I truthfully can't say that she was blameless in the matter.
Safety is just one of the many reasons. I’d not play tackle football myself, but that has more to do with my build which is rather slight.
This gal, doesn’t appear to have all that much to her. I know a few gals who would probably do ok, but then those gals have actual respect for the game.