Not certain whether concerns about the statistically significant possibility of incurring a brain injury while playing football constitutes "hysteria."
There definitely is a problem.
Particularly in high school football has a commanding “lead” in concussions per 10,000 games and practices.
According to a study done by the Sports Concussion Clinic, Division of Sports Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, football accounts for just under 57% (shown to the right in the pie chart) of concussions in high school athletes.
https://u.osu.edu/groupbetaengr2367/...dd-stuff-here/
You correctly note that playing other sports also presents a significant risk of incurring a brain injury, although due to higher participation rates the total number of concussions related to football is going to be higher. Since football is so much more popular than those other sports, and few people could pick a top shelf lacrosse or rugby player out of a lineup, it is not surprising that brain damage sustained by a Mike Webster or Junior Seau is going to lead to greater focus upon the consequences of having a brain injury in football than those other sports.
I do not have a clue what those interested in or overseeing soccer, lacrosse or rugby are doing to reduce the risks of brain injury in those sports since I have no interest in those sports. In his post above Craic has linked to actions that are being taken.
Those risks clearly are impacting participation rates for high school football, which is a mortal risk to the long term popularity of the sport.
An HBO Real Sports/Marist Poll found that most Americans are aware of a connection between football and long-term brain injury, with about one-in-three saying this knowledge would make them less likely to allow a son to play.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/a...ncussion-risk/
As far as hockey, I am a casual fan and do know the days of glorifying the enforcer at the NHL level are gone, with someone like Tom Wilson of the Capitals getting suspended for 25% of the season for high hits that were applauded in the past. And any Penguins fan probably is concerned about hits to the head since that nearly ended Sidney Crosby's career in his mid 20s.
As far as anyone else in hockey being interested, the parties to a pending lawsuit certainly are.
For the past four years, [the NHL] has fought the retired hockey players at every juncture in court. Commissioner Gary Bettman, a former litigator, has not only tried to have the cases dismissed, he has vigorously questioned the growing evidence linking head hits and brain trauma.
In depositions, N.H.L. team owners have claimed to not know about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease found posthumously in retired players, despite ubiquitous media attention to the disease and mounting examples of declining brain function among retired players. Some of those players were so-called “enforcers” — hockey players whose main responsibility was to fight with opponents.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/s...y-bettman.html
As a niche sport maybe the NHL can pull off that defense.
Or maybe basketball can continue its march to becoming the most popular sport in the U.S. for reasons including you are unlikely to get your brains scrambled while playing it