Inquiry launched into link between dementia and head trauma
CAMPAIGN BY FOOTBALLER’S FAMILY
AN inquiry is to be launched into the link between dementia and head trauma in sport after the death of Derbyshire footballer Jeff Astle and a long campaign by his family on the issue.
MPs in the digital, culture, media and sport committee are set to “consider scientific evidence for links between head trauma and dementia and how risks could be mitigated” over two sessions which start on Tuesday.
Mr Astle died at the age of just 59 in 2002 from early onset dementia (CTE), which a coroner ruled was caused by heading the ball during his playing days. He was a former West Bromwich Albion and England striker and lived in Netherseal.
In a groundbreaking inquest ruling in 2002, Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh recorded a verdict of “death by industrial disease” in the case of Mr Astle, saying that heading heavy, often rain-sodden, leather footballs also caused his death.
Mr Astle’s daughter, Dawn, has always been convinced there is a connection with footballers heading balls who go on to develop dementia. His family set up the Jeff Astle Foundation, which campaigns on the issue.
Legal actions are already being considered or have been launched across football and rugby. A 2019 study also revealed professional footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than other people of the same age.
As well as Mr Astle, it was revealed last year that England 1966 World Cup winner Sir Bobby Charlton had been diagnosed with dementia, with four other members of the side - Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson – suffering with dementia at the time of their deaths.
The digital, culture, media and sport committee said it would hear from players and governing bodies.
In football, the Premier League and Football Association have introduced permanent concussion substitutes, allowing injured players to be removed from play without the opposing team gaining an advantage in response to the seriousness with which it treats head injuries.
The FA, alongside the Professional Footballers’ Association, is also funding the FIELD study, which is examining links between professional football and dementia. There have been calls from across the sporting world for more research to be undertaken, however, so as to better understand the risks that athletes are undertaking.