Heading balls triples danger
A SHOCK report shows former footballers are three-and-a-half times more likely to die from dementia than anyone else.
A study funded by the FA and the players’ union and conducted by experts at Glasgow University looked at links between heading footballs and brain injuries.
It compared 7,676 ex-players in Scotland between 1900 and 1976 to 23,000 from the general public and the 22-month investigation showed a dramatic increase in brain injuries.
But the study still could not prove whether it was down to heading or concussion.
As a result of the report a number of former players, including PFA deputy chief executive Bobby Barnes, have offered to donate their brains to medical research.
Barnes (below) said: “There is post-mortem brain donation and I can confirm that there are former players who have already agreed to do this.
“In fact, it includes five of our own staff within the PFA.
“When you talk about the boxing analogy, sadly they do tend to examine after the event. I’m very much in that category.
“As far as I’ve been concerned, I’ve been impacted by these results because I was born in 1962.
“But if you were to ask me whether this study would have an impact on my desire to be a professional footballer, I was privileged to play a sport I love and I’d be surprised if it deterred young players from going into the game.”
Dawn Astle, daughter of former West
Brom striker Jeff who died of dementia in 2002, has been highly critical of the PFA for not offering more support.
She admitted she was surprised at the depth of the problem, saying: “My overall feeling is that I am staggered even though my own research and instinct was always that there was a serious problem.
“There will be no celebrations. It doesn’t bring my dad back, it won’t bring any other dads and husbands back. We knew dad could not be the only one. We just wanted that question answered.
“We just wanted to see that football cared enough to find out the scale of the problem, to do the right thing and be there for these people when they need them most.
“These players who have suffered dementia must not be a statistic – they must never be forgotten. They remain in the consciousness of the game.
“The government should step in. When did football know? What did they do? There should be a full inquiry into what people knew.
“We know there have been warnings that have been ignored.”
Research shows that players now head the ball significantly less, modern balls retain less water than old-fashioned leather ones and therefore the FA do not feel the need to ban headers in youth
football.
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