By WJBC Staff

SPRINGFIELD – New legislation bans tackle football for kids under 12 years old.

The bill is dubbed the Dave Duerson Act named after the former Chicago Bears player who took his own life in 2011. He was later found to have CTE, a brain disease linked to concussions.

Duerson’s son Tregg is pushing for passage of the measure.

“Hitting is part of the game, but that’s not what football is and what its about,” Duerson said. “What should be most important is understand proper techniques, understating how to throw catch, run, backpedal, defend – all of those things that make a football player a football player – and flag football is a great answer.”

Former Bears player Otis Wilson also supports the bill and said he will donate his brain when he dies for further study of CTE.

Chris Nowinski, CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said young children who play tackle football are at a greater risk of neurological damage which includes CTE.

“This isn’t about an act to ban tackle football, this is about an act to prevent children from being hit in the head hundreds of times through sports each season,” Nowinski.

State Rep. Carol Sente, D-Vernon Hills, said science shows that “the risks of playing football before turning 12 just aren’t worth it.”