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Kim SY, Chan CL et al. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2016; 54: 936–940

Although the authors do concede that any legal requirement to wear soft headgear may change fundamentally the playing of association soccer. This paper reports a surgical audit of maxilla-facial injuries incurred when players participated in several Australian 'football codes'. The authors state 1) rugby league had the highest incidence of facial fractures, followed by rugby union, 'Australian rules', and then soccer; 2) clash of heads was the most common cause of fractures, although injuries were sustained from impacts with shoulders, and forearms and fists particularly in rugby league; and 3) two thirds of such injuries required surgical intervention. Some of the observations reported in this paper reflect merely those who participate in these sports.