Why my dad’s dementia makes me rage at PFA
The drama never stops, does it? Another weekend of twists and turns and so much to talk about that it’s hard to take your eyes off the game.
But barely a week goes by when I’m not reminded of the way football — in its mad rush for the next goal, signing or thrilling finale — has forgotten a lot of players it left behind.
I’m talking about the many players of the older generations who have developed dementia at an unusually young age.
They include my dad, Mike, who was still in his 60s when he first showed symptoms. The illness means he won’t have the slightest idea how the club he loved and played for 51 times — Norwich City — have done this weekend. he can barely recognise me now.
We’re not looking for any kind of special help to look after dad. Dementia afflicts many people from all professions, all walks of life. We’re like any other family, getting by as we can.
My mum cares for him in a way that thousands of carers would recognise, helping him find his way from room to room in their small flat; bringing what she can when both of their lives are reduced by it.
The ordinary things like reading the paper and watching television are impossible when you can’t remember what happened two minutes ago. I never thought I would see my dad colouring, one of his few activities now.
But it’s a resolve to investigate why he and others like him might have this condition that we want to see. And it’s the indifference about doing so which makes me rage. Though only one in 75 British men develop this illness between the ages of 65 and 69, football is littered with cases of those, like my dad, who do.
Shouldn’t the organisation who represent the players — the Professional Footballers’ Association — be alarmed or at least concerned? Of course they should. We want the incidence rate of former players to be compared to statistics for the wider population. have they done any work with researchers on this subject? Of course not.
It’s 15 years since an inquest into the death of Jeff Astle, the former West Bromwich Albion striker, established that he had died because of brain damage from playing football, but the authorities have failed to generate a single piece of the research they promised back then.
The matter is in the FA’s hands now — and we were told six months ago that research is on the way.
But the FA is the establishment. It represents the game rather than the players. When workers have contracted injuries and illnesses down the years, who has shouldered the burden? Always their union.
They have done nothing. The PFA started some research after the Astle inquest. But it transpired that the project had been abandoned because the players they were monitoring had drifted out of the game.
Nothing was ever flagged up about that.
It’s too late for players of the past now. The family of england World Cup hero Nobby Stiles, who is suffering too, thought they’d have answers in their lifetime and they won’t.
It’s too late for my dad, too. It’s shocking to us the way he’s declining and we don’t even think of him as old.
But it’s not too late for the players of today. The former Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle announced this week that he was retiring from the game at the age of 34 because of repeated headaches that heading the ball has caused him. he says he has suffered concussion many times throughout his career.
I want to know that my union — my dad’s union — won’t rest until they have found whether there’s a link and, if so, a way of protecting players.
We gave a little bit to our industry, in the way that others have given to theirs. I don’t think this is too much to ask.
He won’t have the slightest idea how Norwich — the club he played for 51 times — have done