Astle family condemn lack of action
Astle’s family condemn players’ union for ignorance of dementia
THE charity campaigning for an investigation into possible links between dementia and football has now been contacted by 500 families — yet is still waiting for the Football Association to commission scientific research first promised 15 years ago, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
In a BBC documentary fronted by Alan Shearer tonight, the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive Gordon Taylor admits he has no idea how many former players have been affected, leading The Jeff Astle Foundation — established by the family of the late player — to voice astonishment at what it called ‘a basic lack of curiosity’. Its co- founder, Dawn Astle, said most of the 500 families who called had described ‘four or five’ team-mates of the affected player having the same problem.
‘The players’ own union not knowing the scale of the problem would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious,’ said the daughter of the former West Brom striker (right). ‘They should be asking their members and screaming from the rooftops, demanding to know if the game has caused this illness.’
Research was first promised by the PFA after Astle’s inquest ruled in 2002 that heading of the ball and countless knocks to the head had caused chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or ‘ boxer’s brain’. The sport was still no nearer an answer when the FA announced in May that they were finally commissioning independent research.
But a team is still to be appointed, and as the governing body told The Mail on Sunday last night that they hoped for a development ‘within weeks’, Ms Astle called on the select committee of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to investigate the game’s inaction. ‘It needs that level of rigour,’ she told The Mail on Sunday.
When Shearer puts it to Taylor that it should be ‘easy’ at least to e s t a bl i s h t he scale of illness, the chief executive said: ‘At the moment, with modern technology, we are looking to try to establish a... database.’ He blamed FIFA and, implicitly, the FA, saying that ‘federations’ had failed to initiate research.
The FA’s medical performance director Dr C h a r l o t t e Cowie said the governing body was now ‘running towards the problem’ and that it had been a ‘difficult decision’ to take on the investigation, rather than wait for FIFA. Asked by Shearer if the FA should apologise to players’ families who have felt abandoned, she said: ‘ We certainly need to consider these people. The FA needs to get this done.’
But after 15 years of delays and excuses, families remain sceptical, with many convinced the sport ‘has been scared to face a lawsuit,’ as Shearer puts it. The programme reveals how families are finding help outside of the game — with the Sporting Memories organisation, which uses sport as a cognitive focus for people s uff eri ng dementia, depression and loneliness, a huge support. May Tees, wife of former Grimsby Town striker Matt Tees, who has dementia, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘ I have three grandsons... and two are good footballers. It’s too late for my husband but it’s so i mpo r t a n t we h a v e research into it.’ Shearer undergoes an MRI scan for the documentary. But the best way of establishing beyond any doubt that heading a ball damages the brain is by persuading players t o commit to examination of their brains after death — a process that could take years. It is also essential to com- pare levels of dementia with the general population.
Shearer’s research turns up several pieces of information which underline the need for urgency.
Dr Michael Grey, a neuroscientist, tells him that young girls experience concussion more than boys. ‘We don’t know why,’ he says. He reveals that children experience more ‘wobbling of the brain’ inside the skull as they have larger heads and smaller necks and that because their brains are developing they are less protected. Dr Grey says he thinks very young children should not be asked to head the ball.
Taylor said it had been put to him that ‘maybe the clubs are worried because they may have to pay compensation’. Shearer concludes: ‘The surprising thing for me is that no one has stepped up and said: “You know what? We got this one wrong. We should have looked into it.” No one’s said: “Yeah, we messed up here. We had a chance to do something 15 years ago and we haven’t”.’
The surprising thing is that no one’s said, ‘We got this wrong, we messed up’ ALAN SHEARER
Alan Shearer: Dementia, Football and Me, BBC1, 10.30pm