FIFA official claims that football is not linked with dementia
A LEADING FIFA official has rubbished links between dementia and football — just as the Football Association announced a ‘massive’ investigation into the possible damaging effects of concussion and excessive heading.
Research published last month suggested repeated headers during a player’s career may be linked to long-term brain damage.
Four out of six former players were found to have signs of degenerative brain disease linked to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, after their brains had post-mortem examinations.
A number of other recent studies, including one from Stirling University first reported in The Mail on Sunday last year, show evidence that heading footballs can impair brain function and negatively affect a player’s memory.
At least three members of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad — Martin Peters, Nobby Stiles and Ray Wilson — have developed dementia or memory loss, while Dawn Astle, whose father Jeff, the former England striker, died of a degenerative brain disease aged 59, has campaigned for far more attention to be paid to possible damaging effects. Long-term neurological damage caused by repeated head trauma was first identified in boxers in 1928.
But FIFA’s joint deputy secretary general Zvonomir Boban, the former Croatian World Cup star, suggested more research would simply be a waste of time.
‘There is nothing conclusive that we can take from all this research,’ said Boban. ‘FIFA have been looking into this for 16 years with universities and medical entities and there is no link between dementia and football. I have let [FA chief executive] Martin Glenn know about our research, which involved considerable investment. Obviously we have to be aware of the potential risks but until now there is no risk at all.’
Boban’s comments heap embarrassment on FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who appointed him last May. They also infuriated Astle, who labelled them a ‘disgrace’.
‘If FIFA have been looking into this issue for 16 years then it’s news to me and my family,’ said Astle, whose father Jeff died in 2002 from early on-set dementia that a coroner found was caused by repeated head trauma sustained during his playing career with West Bromwich Albion and England.
‘We know of dozens of families of former players suffering serious neurological problems which they firmly believe has been caused by head injuries sustained during their playing careers. That is what we always believed happened to dad and that’s exactly what the coroner found when he examined his brain. He said it looked like the brain of a boxer.
‘All the evidence we can see is that there is potentially a very serious problem and significantly higher incidence of early-onset dementia in retired footballers than there is in the wider population. We need to understand why. ‘For FIFA to simply dismiss any association between dementia and football is nothing short of disgraceful. They have a duty of care to the participants in their sport.’
Glenn said that a ‘massive, six-figure’ study, jointly commissioned with the Professional Footballers’ Association, would be conducted by as yet unnamed university experts.
‘We’re taking it seriously but one has to be proportionate,’ said Glenn. ‘The research is to look at one simple thing: is the incidence of dementia greater in professional footballers, or former professional footballers, than it is in the population as a whole? You need lots of data on that.’
Glenn’s Scottish counterpart Stewart Regan said all four home nations bought into the idea. ‘We have all agreed that we’d like to commission a piece of research exploring whether the prevalence of dementia in professional footballers is any greater than in society in general,’ said Regan.
‘Dementia is going to be around for a long time. We want to make sure that if there is a connection to football we understand what that is and can take some kind of preventative approach.’