United star’s wife calls for action over dementia

New study finds former footballers are more likely to pass away from the disease

The wife of Dundee United legend Frank Kopel has told the authorities to “sit up and listen” after a new study revealed the link between football and dementia.

Amanda Kopel, from Kirriemuir, suspects her husband’s dementia was caused by years spent heading a hard, leather football.

He died just days after his 65th birthday in 2014, having lived with the disease from the age of 59.

The study found former footballers are approximately three-and-ahalf times more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease than the general population.

The report, released yesterday and commissioned by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association, assessed the medical records of 7,676 men who played professional football in Scotland between 1900 and 1976.

Their records were matched against more than 23,000 individuals from the general population, with the study led by consultant neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart of Glasgow University.

His findings report the “risk ranged from a five-fold increase in Alzheimer’s disease, through an approximately fourfold increase in motor neurone disease, to a two-fold Parkinson’s disease in former professional footballers compared to population controls”.

“The report brought back so many painful memories of watching Frankie trying to battle this horrible disease,” said Mrs Kopel.

“I wasn’t surprised or shocked by the findings because it’s something I have thought about for the past 12 years since I first heard about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

“It’s not a case of ‘I told you so’, but the SFA and the PFA must now sit up and listen.”

Mrs Kopel said football was a job that cost her husband her life.

She believes heading a football should now be restricted in training and banned completely for those under a certain age.

“If this report prevents anyone in future from going through what we went through then that’s a good thing.

“At least now people can be armed with the facts and aware of the dangers associated with heading a football.”

Although footballers had higher risk of death from neurodegenerative disease, they were less likely to die of other common diseases, such as heart disease and some cancers.

The study – titled ‘Football’s Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk’ or FIELD for short – found that deaths in ex-footballers were lower than expected up to age 70.

The FA said it was important to try and establish “whether or not the results from this historic group of former professional footballers relates, in any way, to the modern-day professional footballer”.

It’s not a case of ‘I told you so’, but the SFA and the PFA must now sit up and listen. AMANDA KOPEL

Frank Kopel, pictured with his wife Amanda, passed away from dementia in 2014.