The same sort of thing happened to NHL hockey and the sport in general. The left insisted that helmets and (later) facial shields would make the game so much safer and better. There may have been those few unfortunate instances of head and eye injuries that might have made the idea of more protective equipment seem like a good one. But all of these years later, problems involving concussions, broken necks and backs, and other related injuries are at appalling rates and that the game of the past was that better and happier thing before the left helped to damage it.
Helmets aren't really the problem in the NHL. It's the speed of the game and the size of the players more than anything else. I think hockey can go a long way toward reducing head injuries by making all the protective gear OTHER THAN helmets thinner and lighter -- and by forcing wooden sticks back into the game.