Objectives The study aimed to determine a contemporary multi-year junior AF injury and illness profile and secondly, explore changes in incidence and burden over the six-year period. Design Prospective cohort study. Methods This study involved an elite male junior Under-18 competition and included six seasons of injury data between 2015 and 2021. A total of 1559 eligible players were included in the analysis. An injury was defined as `any physical or medical condition that resulted in a player missing one or more regular competition season matches.` A Poisson regression model determined injury and illness incidence and burden across the league over a 6-year period and explore changes in injury incidence and burden over time. Results There was a total of 1042 injuries. The most frequently reported injuries were ankle sprain or joint injuries (26.5 injuries/season), hamstring strains (15.8 injuries/season), and concussion (15.1 injuries/season). The most burdensome injuries were ankle sprain or joint injuries with 82.5 missed matches/season, followed by anterior cruciate ligament injuries with 53.7 missed matches/season and hamstring strains with 46.9 missed matches/season. Injury incidence did not change for the most common injury types over time (all p>0.05). Injury burden significantly increased for concussions, ACL injuries, MCL injuries, and ankle sprain or joint injuries (all p<0.001). Conclusions The multi-year injury surveillance methodology identified injuries with the highest consistent incidence and those that caused the most burden to elite male junior AF players. The results can be used to reliably guide future injury prevention methodologies to reduce the impact on players and clubs.
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