Objective To assess awareness and sources of concussion information in amateur football players, as well as understand trends in concussion management in this population.

Design Retrospective, cross-sectional study.

Setting Online questionnaire of recreational football and rugby players in the United Kingdom.

Participants A total of 944 responses were returned. Of these, 102 recorded ‘football/soccer’ as their most played sport. Three of these were excluded on the basis of age. The remaining respondents (n=99) were included in the data analysis of this study. Respondents were categorized by age group: 19–29 years old (n=31), 30–39 years old (n=38), and 40+ years old (n=30).

Outcome Measures Awareness of concussion guidelines, management of concussion, sources of concussion information.

Main Results 51.5% of participants were unaware of any concussion guidelines. Only 38.4% of respondents were aware of the FA Concussion Guidelines. In our survey, of those with previously diagnosed or suspected concussions, most (60.9%) did not seek professional medical care. Furthermore, after suspecting a concussion, 64.3% did not stop playing or training, citing ‘Did not want to stop playing’ as the most common reason why (72.2%). 91.9% agreed that more concussion information is needed at the recreational level. The preferred source of this information differed significantly by age group(x²(2) = 10.30, p<0.01).

Conclusions Concussion information is poorly disseminated amongst the amateur playing population. There is a trend towards self-management, despite insufficient knowledge for this purpose. Social media was found to be a preferred target to increase awareness of current concussion guidelines.