Tommy’s dementia story a touching one

TOMMY Cassidy was a player from the golden age of Northern Ireland football that took in the never-to-be-forgotten victory over hosts Spain in the 1982 World Cup finals.

But Tommy, a much-loved player with Newcastle Utd and the international team, and a former Glentoran manager, can’t hold much of a conversation about those days.

The man who used to be full of quips and side-splitting tales about the game and the people he played with has Alzheimer’s disease.

No one could fail to be touched by our emotive interview with his wife Rosemary today on how the disease has impacted their lives.

As she tellingly points out, a diagnosis of cancer can mean there is a chance of survival — and many more people do as therapies improve — but with Alzheimer’s, the progression is inexorable.

It is a disease that leaves the body virtually untouched — Tommy at 70 is still a physically fit man — but stealthily robs the patient of memory and identity.

Tommy has only a very shortterm memory now, and has become more and more reliant on Rosemary, even just to go out.

The couple have spoken out bravely to increase awareness of the disease, to put a face to the statistics, and to see what aid is available to patients.

The decimation of the England World Cup-winning squad of 1966 has already highlighted the problems faced by professional footballers.

Sir Bobby Charlton is the fifth member of the team to be diagnosed with the degenerative disease.

A survey in 2019 found professional footballers were up to five times more likely to be affected by Alzheimer’s than an ordinary group of similar aged men.

Heading heavy leather balls, which increased in weight when they got wet, was given as one explanation and led to football authorities banning heading in under-age games. However, some experts say today’s lighter footballs travel much faster, up to 80mph, and can be equally if not more dangerous to health in later life.

Watching the mental decline of a footballer like Tommy, who made friends wherever he went, is sad in the extreme for those who love him. As Rosemary says, few know the impact of the disease unless they have witnessed it.

Hopefully Tommy’s story, added to those of other wellknown professional footballers, will make the game’s authorities examine if enough is being done to safeguard the long-term mental health of players.

That would be his greatest victory.