Campaigners hail bid to ban heading in under-12 football

CAMPAIGNERS HAVE welcomed the Scottish Football Association’s move towards banning heading in games for under-12s.

The association is reported to be close to imposing such a ban in training, although the timescale for introducing it is unclear.

The United States has had a similar ban in place since 2015 but the SFA move would make Scotland the first European country to impose such a restriction.

It follows the publication of a study by the University of Glasgow last year that found footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of a neurodegenerative disease than agematched non-players.

The SFA said it would finalise the proposals “in early course”.

It is understood there is consensus between the SFA board, the professional and non-professional game boards and medical representatives to recommend such a ban.

Outlawing heading could be in place for the grassroots season, which runs from March to November.

Campaigner Dawn Astle welcomed the move. Her father, former West Bromwich Albion and England striker Jeff Astle, died aged 59 in 2002 from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a type

VICTIM: Jeff Astle’s fatal dementia was ruled by a coroner to be ‘an industrial disease’.

of dementia caused by brain injury. The coroner ruled his death had been caused by the repeated trauma of heading the ball, describing it as an “industrial disease”.

Ms Astle said of the move to ban heading: “We’re very pleased.

“We applaud them for trying to put things in place to reduce the risk and not hanging on and hanging on and keeping saying ‘More research, more research’.”

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard agrees work must continue to establish if there is a link between the game and dementia.

But he said he believed heading still had a place in grassroots footbal and said using lighter balls might be a way forward.