I feel lucky not to have be here. There’s 5 in
TOMORROW, before joining the rest of the country in making the final preparations for Christmas, Sir Geoff Hurst will make a call.
Monday marks a year since the death of England and West Ham teammate Martin Peters, and Sir Geoff and his wife Judith will be calling to check in on Martin’s widow Kathy.
Sir Geoff said: “He was 76 and had dementia for about six or seven years. He was a very close friend and it hit us hard because my wife Judith and Martin’s wife Kathy have known each other for 60 years. They still speak twice a day and she did, and still does, need that support.
“It’s the families that suffer and Kathy has spoken to my wife many, many times over the years about her difficulties. In the end, Martin seemed to deteriorate rather quickly and even Kath was saying Martin struggled to even know who she was.
“It’s a year tomorrow since he passed and we will speak to Kath to check in on how she is.”
In a tough 12 months, Sir Geoff has said sad goodbyes to two other members of the side that defeated West Germany in 1966, Jack Charlton, who died aged 85, in July and Nobby Stiles, 78, in October.
They too had been diagnosed with dementia, like team right back Ray Wilson who died in 2018, robbing them of their memories of that famous day.
Sir Bobby Charlton, 83, revealed last month that he too has the condition, while the death of fellow icon Dame Barbara Windsor, who had Alzheimer’s, has left him feeling fortunate.
He said: “I do feel exceptionally lucky not to have dementia and to still be here. That’s five in
the team who have had it now. I was 79 last week and I do worry about getting the disease as it’s so awful. But it’s a bit of a lottery really when you get to the age I am as to what you do get.
“If you’re lucky, you don’t get dementia and then you can live much longer. But we know what a cruel disease it is and we saw what happened with Barbara and how her husband Scott looked after her for so long. It was magnificent what he did for her. “I feel very fortunate and my family are very fortunate that I’ve not had anything like it because, like Scott, they are the people that bear the brunt.” As a result of dementia patients suffering extreme loneliness in lockdown and his teammates having the disease, Sir Geoff is a supporter of the Alzheimer’s Society and last month helped the charity launch its first dedicated sport and dementia campaign: Sport United Against Dementia. The campaign has been launched after the links between the risk of developing dementia and playing contact sports or heading footballs has
HAPPIER TIMES: Sir Geoff’s close friends Martin and Kathy Peters
been the subject of great debate and interest in recent months.
Its aim is to also help transform the way sport supports people affected by dementia, from fans to players, by making clubs more dementia-friendly.
Indeed, a study last year found former footballers were threeand-a-half times more likely than others of a similar age to develop dementia and it’s something that is of great concern to Sir Geoff.
“More research is needed, quite frankly, between the links between heading footballs and dementia,” he said.
“It’s also why I support a ban on children heading footballs after the dementia diagnoses and deaths among my 1966 World Cup-winning teammates. Their brains aren’t developed as much as an adult and them taking a knock to the head could be really damaging.”
With around 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia, which is due to double by 2040 to about 1.6 million, the disease is the UK’S biggest killer and it’s why Sir Geoff is so supportive of Sir Bobby going public.
“It’s something that urgently needs to be addressed and it’s very brave of Bobby and his wife Lady Norma to come out and speak about it publicly,” he said.
“What they’ve done is extremely admirable, and I applaud both for doing that because it does raise awareness.
“It’s a difficult area for families to get to grips with and some mention it very early and some people don’t want to let the world know.
“I think
Ban children heading balls’
I had a suspicion
VICTORIOUS: Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst celebrate World Cup win in 1966 naturally about Bobby because he wasn’t seen at any of the Man-u matches in the crowd or on the pitch with
Norma so I sort of guessed there was some kind of health issue. But I had no idea it was dementia until it was publicly mentioned a few weeks ago.
“Ray Wilson was a classic example in that he told the squad not long after he was diagnosed in about 2004 at our annual reunion and it was a shock.”
Apart from suffering a minor stroke 18 months ago, which he was lucky to recover fully from, Sir Geoff has never had any grave illnesses and remains fit and healthy – he even recently said he would be willing to donate his brain to science to aid research into dementia.
“I was asked in an interview if I would donate my brain? And, put on the spot, I said yes. So the whole country knew I was going to donate my brain, apart from the fact I hadn’t discussed it with my wife. So that was a source of amusement in our house.
“But then my wife went into a drawer and got out some paperwork, which showed I had actually agreed to donate my brain and all my organs to the National Health Service, and I signed that document in 2011. “Some family members jokingly said they were not sure if any organisation would want my brain. I think when you’re gone it doesn’t matter what happens and anything you can do to help is great for the cause.” Living in Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire, Sir Geoff reveals how his area is under Tier 2 restrictions and with Boris urging the nation to keep festive celebrations small-scale and brief, he admits that he and his wife had already decided weeks ago not to mix three households this Christmas.
“I have three daughters, well we lost our eldest daughter 10 years ago, so we have two remaining daughters and five grandchildren. And a son-in-law and a girlfriend and a dog and it is hard that we are not going to be with them at Christmas.
“It’s tough but we’re being sensible. The ‘Hurst mob’ as I call them suggested not seeing us and we all came to this realisation that it wasn’t going to happen and we are all in total agreement.
“It’s not as if we have had the vaccine. It might be a different matter if we had. Given my age, I hopefully fall into the category where I will be one of the first to have it in the new year and I have absolutely no reservations about having it.
“I am perfectly fit and healthy and I’ve never had a reaction to a vaccine before. I have a flu jab every year and that has always been absolutely fine. I am prepared to do whatever the Government says and I certainly want to be around to celebrate my 80th birthday next December!”
‘I want to be around for 80th’
The Alzheimer’s Society’s Sport United Against Dementia aims to shine a spotlight on dementia and spearhead change. Visit alzheimers.org.uk/suad to donate and find out more