JOE: END HEADING FOR KIDS

HORROR head injury victim Joe Bennett has backed Scottish football’s proposed ban on heading in kids’ football.

The Cardiff City fullback had to be carried off on a stretcher two weeks ago, after a collision with team-mate Junior Hoilett left him groggy and with a gruesome lump that closed his left eye.

Bennett (above) went through concussion tests and checks over fears he had fractured his eye socket before being given the all-clear to resume playing.

The Scottish plan is to outlaw heading for under-12s after fears over dementia risks in adult life, and Bennett admitted: “I had a headache for about two weeks.

“When I got home, my missus and the kids were just glad that nothing too serious had happened.

“The kids were asking all kinds of questions, but that’s what happens in football sometimes. The concern after the game was that I might have fractured my eye-socket which would have been a lot more serious.”

Bennett’s injury came when he jumped for an aerial challenge, but headed the back of Hoilett’s head instead of the ball. The painful consequences have convinced the left-back that the Scottish FA are on the right lines in preventing kids from heading.

Their plan is to follow the lead of the USA in banning heading for youngsters, while former England striker Alan Shearer has led a campaign for more research into the risks of dementia and ex-Norwich and Wales striker Iwan Roberts has volunteered to undergo regular brain monitoring.

A report last year by the University of Glasgow claimed former professionals were threeand-a-half times more likely to die of a degenerative brain disease than the general population.

Bennett added: “I heard about the ban on the radio and I think for kids this is probably a good idea. I have got kids and my boy is always heading the ball around the house.

“If it helps to reduce brain injuries, then it’s a good idea.

“But it’s a difficult one and for men’s football I don’t expect the situation to change. Heading has been there since football started so it would be difficult to remove it.”