Victory for the Telegraph FA will research link between heading ball and dementia
Ruling body to co-fund research into the link between heading ball and degenerative illness
A study into the link between football and dementia was finally commissioned yesterday following an 18-month campaign by The Daily Telegraph exposing what has been branded sport’s “silent scandal”.
The Football Association announced that it and the Professional Footballers’ Association would fund research into the prevalence of “degenerative neurocognitive disease” in thousands of former players in comparison with that of the general population.
Confirmation of the study was a victory for The Telegraph and the victims of the killer illness – including several members of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team – as well as the families who had campaigned for many years for the game to investigate.
Chief among them was Dawn Astle, the daughter of West Bromwich Albion legend and former England striker Jeff, whom a coroner ruled in 2002 had been killed by repeatedly heading a football.
Admitting she had been “quite teary” following the announcement, she thanked the media for its support, adding: “It’s been lonely a lot of the time and it’s pure frustration at times when you know, because it said on my dad’s death certificate, that football killed him and football didn’t want to know.
“I don’t think I’ll ever lose that anger about it all, because my dad’s dead. And I know that, whatever is done, it’s not going to bring him back. But if it can help today’s players and it can help players of the future and ensure that these former players are properly looked after, then it’s a fantastic legacy for my dad to leave behind.” The two-tothree year study, which intends to look at about 15,000 former players, will be led by Dr Willie Stewart, the Scottish neuropathologist who diagnosed the first case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in a British footballer when he examined Astle’s brain after his death. Dawn Astle called for the study to be only
the start of further research if evidence of a link between football and dementia is found. “We need to know why,” she added. “It’s been 16 wasted years – possibly 40 wasted years. This is about people dying. Not a bruise or broken leg. This is killing former players and it has to be properly addressed.”
Insisting she opposed an outright ban on heading, she nevertheless warned some “serious decisions” would have to be made at youth level if a link was shown.
Her sentiments were echoed by the widow of former Busby Babe Frank Kopel, who died three years ago after being diagnosed with dementia in 2008. Revealing she had only a day earlier interred her husband’s ashes, Amanda Kopel said: “As somebody said to me yesterday at the graveside, what a fitting tribute and legacy this is to Frank, who lost his life doing a job he loved.”
Acknowledging answers to questions she had been asking for nine years were still some time away, she added: “Another two to three years is a drop in the ocean as long as, at the end of the day, we can say, ‘We were right all along’.
“All these ears which have been closed from the powers-that-be, some of them are starting to open now – and thank God for that.”
Calling for restrictions to be placed on children heading balls if a link was proved, she said: “We’re trying to protect these kids. They shouldn’t be getting balls thrown at them at an early age. The name of the game is football, not ‘headball’.”
Alan Shearer, who fronted a powerful BBC documentary about football and dementia which aired this month, posted on Twitter: “A long time coming but great news. Hopefully this demonstrates that there is now a real search for answers. More must follow. Congratulations @Willstewneuro.”
FA chief executive Martin Glenn said: “This new research will be one the most comprehensive studies ever commissioned into the longterm health of former footballers. Dementia can have a devastating effect and, as the governing body of English football, we felt compelled to commission a significant new study in order to fully understand if there are any potential risks associated with playing the game.”
Glenn’s PFA counterpart, Gordon Taylor, added: “The PFA is and always has been committed to a duty of care for all past, current and future members and has lobbied the football authorities to join with us on all aspects of health and safety.”