FA guidelines will advise coaches to ban young children from heading
CHIEF SPORTS REPORTER
The Football Association will issue new guidelines in the next 48 hours that are expected to advise coaches and teachers to no longer practice heading with primary school-aged children.
Ahead of a week in which the International Football Association Board will also decide on a trial of concussion substitutes, the English and Scottish FAS are intending to be proactive with new precautionary steps designed to minimise the future risk of brain injury.
It follows research last October by the University of Glasgow which showed that former professional football players are 3½ times more likely to die of brain disease; and specifically five times more likely to die of Alzheimer’s, four times more likely to die of motor neurone disease and twice as likely to die of Parkinson’s.
The research followed The Telegraph’s successful campaign for answers into the link between playing football and dementia, and calls from neuropathologists and campaigners for immediate precautions.
Detailed proposals have been debated, which cover age groups all the way up to under-18s and The Telegraph understands that the FA has been advised that the youngest children, who seldom head the ball in matches, should no longer be practising heading in training. There would then be a phased introduction once children reach secondary school age. As reported by The Telegraph in December, the FA is also considering new recommendations to limit heading during training at all levels of senior football.
The issue of temporary concussion substitutes will also come into sharp focus ahead of Ifab’s annual general meeting. There is considerable disagreement on the best way forward. A proposal by the Premier League that would not include temporary substitutes, but the possibility of an additional permanent replacement for head injuries, has been dismissed as “hopeless” by the Glasgow researchers and is opposed both by the FA and the world players’ union Fifpro.
The FA has been pushing for temporary replacements and that argument was strengthened on Saturday when Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho was allowed to continue after a collision with Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson. He was then reported to have felt “groggy” at half-time before being brought off. With a temporary substitute, Iheanacho would have come straight off for a 15-minute assessment and not been placed at further risk of a potentially devastating second impact.
Fifa is concerned that teams could try to exploit concussion substitutes, but the football authorities have been collectively warned that they must prioritise player welfare.