Fighting dementia is least I can do to honour my former team-mates
EVERY year, the band of brothers would take it in turn to organise a reunion and convene for a round of golf and dinner with their wives.
Sir Geoff Hurst looked forward to England’s 1966 World Cup squad renewing the unbreakable bonds forged in a summer that defined them as national treasures.
But as the inexorable march of time took its toll, the Boys of ’66 gatherings petered out. Now, among Sir Alf Ramsey’s untouchables who started the final, only three are left: Sir Bobby Charlton, 84, George Cohen, 82, and Hurst, who turns 80 next month.
If Hurst misses the camaraderie of those reunions, he is saddened beyond measure that at least four of his friends – Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson – died with dementia.
And 12 months ago, Sir Bobby’s wife Lady Norma courageously shared with the world that the great man had also been diagnosed with a condition that now affects 850,000 people in Britain – enough to fill Wembley 10 times over.
Dementia’s cull of his fallen comrades has turned Hurst into a man on a mission. “It is painful simply to lose teammates who were friends for life because of what we achieved together,” he said. “But it saddens me even more that a high percentage have had issues with Alzheimer’s or dementia-related illness. If I can help to do something about it, and help to establish support for current players and their families, it’s the least I can do to honour my former team-mates.
“We all have reasons to get involved with charities, and my motives for supporting the Alzheimer’s Society and Sport United Against Dementia movement are as strong as you can get.
“I’m doing this to honour guys who won the World Cup for their country. Research led by Professor Willie Stewart (the eminent consultant neuropathologist) suggests professional footballers are three-and-a-half
times more likely to suffer from dementia than the ordinary man in the street, largely from heading the ball so often.
“We need to raise awareness of the problem, remove the stigma that surrounds dementia, fund research to help tackle it and help people live with it.
“If it’s a football issue, we need to get clubs involved to highlight the issue, look after former players affected and extend that help to fans and their loved ones, too.”
Hurst looks back on his training regime as a player and is thankful that he has dodged the dementia bullet.
Puffing out his cheeks, he said: “At West Ham, in the gym we had a ball hanging from the ceiling, and we would practise our heading technique for up to 45 minutes. My view is that clubs should limit the amount of time players head a ball in training.
“If we are going to bring the link between dementia and football out of the shadows, and release the stigma, now is the hour. It’s not five minutes to midnight, it’s five past midnight.” Hurst’s equaliser to make it 1-1 in the 1966 final against West Germany was a glancing header.
He does not advocate a wholesale ban on heading but said: “The passing of several of my team-mates has made me, and many others, more acutely aware of the problem.
“Some of the 1966 squad were having dinner when Ray Wilson told us very matter-offactly, because that’s the type of character he was, that he had been diagnosed with dementia.
“Talking about it, not shouting from the rooftops but in your own community, can only be a good thing if it raises awareness.”