New London — The crowd at Saturday's youth football game between the New London Whalers and the Groton-Mystic Falcons was smaller than an NFL game, but the parents' cheers were just as loud.

The players — 7- and-8-year-old mini versions of the high school athletes that normally play on the New London field, didn't look like they could do too much damage to each other. Many looked like they barely weigh 50 pounds, their regulation helmets dwarfing the rest of their bodies.

But the numbers of local kids signing up for youth football leagues this season is down, and coaches say they think increased visibility of research on the long-term effects of high-impact sports is behind parents' reluctance.

At least two town leagues have folded their eight-and-under teams this year simply because they didn't have enough players.

"Last year we barely fielded a team," said Chip Mundell, the president of East Lyme Youth Football. "We ended up having to forfeit some games."

This year, only six East Lyme kids wanted to play eight-and-under football, so Mundell sent them to teams in other towns.

"Mostly the smaller kids' parents are saying, 'look you're not going to play,'" he said. 

"Concussions, I think have been obvious (deterrents)," he said. The timing of new information about head injuries and the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, released this summer may also have had an effect, he said.

"The kids were getting ready to sign up, and then you have studies coming out from B.U.," he said.

Scientists at Boston University's CTE Center authored a study released in July in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found CTE in 99 percent of brains donated by National Football League players.

They also found CTE in 91 percent of college football players and 21 percent of high school football players.

Also this summer, the doctor credited with discovering CTE released a memoir, and has said in interviews about the book that children playing football is "child abuse." Bennet Omalu, who was played by Will Smith in the 2015 film "Concussion," said in a public appearance that no person under 18 should be playing football.

"It's just in the news a lot," Mundell said. "It's on the mainstream news, it's not just on 'SportsCenter.'"

Dr. Anthony Alessi, a Norwich neurologist who directs the UConn NeuroSport sports medicine program, said skepticism of youth football has been building for years.

"I think that it's accumulating," Alessi said. "It's not just this summer."

Alessi said he isn't against football or any other high-impact sports in principle, but advises parents to sign their kids up for flag football — no tackling — until they're in high school.

"I am not one of these people who think football should be banned," he said.

But "a human brain that is developing is more susceptible to injuries," he said. "We need to distinguish between youth football and football after the high school age."

Recent Connecticut laws require annual concussion training for coaches and students and written clearance from a physician before concussion victims can return to their sports.

But, Alessi said, most youth programs don't have a dedicated medical professional looking after players, making injuries more likely and possibly delaying treatment.

And many parents don't consider the possibility of long-term damage until their child is in his office after a concussion, he said.

East Lyme youth football officials work hard to educate parents about the precautions they're taking to protect players' heads during games and practices.

"We try to educate them, we try to talk to them," Mundell said. "Some of them, they're relieved. Some of them, it doesn't matter what you say, they say 'my kid's not playing.'"

Alexandra Williams had her eyes fixed on her 7-year-old son Gianni as he was on the field during the New London Youth Football game Saturday.

She said her worries about concussions and the potential for brain injuries made her question whether signing Gianni up for football for the first time this year was a good idea.

"It definitely was a concern," she said.

At the first practice of the season, coaches convinced her that with proper training and equipment, Gianni would be safe.

Williams has friends who have kept their kids out of football entirely, she said. But her son's behavior has improved since he started going to the practices, she said, and he has said he wants to keep playing football after the season is over.

"He's so into it, he loves it," she said.

On the other side of the field, Lawrence Balsley of Mystic was watching his son warm up with the Falcons.

Growing up in a family of football fans and players, Balsley said he's thought about the potential for injuries, but doubted that players his son's age would be hitting each other hard enough to cause a concussion.

"You know your kid, and what they want to do," he said. "You got to weigh the pluses and minuses."

But it's not just the younger players that are staying off the football field.

National high school football participation rates were down in 2016 by more than 25,000 players from the previous year, according to an annual report by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

High school numbers have dropped slightly in Connecticut, too, from 10,792 in 2009 to just over 9,500 last school year.

James Singleton, the president of New London's youth football program, said he thinks a number of factors — including higher registration costs and more competition for players' time from other sports — are driving youth football participation rates down.

Singleton tries to explain to parents that all New London coaches go through mandated concussion prevention training, and that football has become much more safety-focused.

Coaches all learn tackling techniques that minimize impact through USA Football's "Heads Up" program, which is used by thousands of U.S. youth and high school programs.

"I tell them, 'yeah football is a contact sport. But it's a safe sport, if you train properly.'"

But, he said, he can't fight back against the spread of information and fears about CTE.

"That movie with Will Smith, I think, really did cause us to lose some kids," he said.

m.shanahan@thday.com