FOOTBALL SEEKS ANSWERS OVER DEMENTIA LINK TO HEADING

GLASGOW: Does heading a football give you dementia?

That’s the question neuropathologist Willie Stewart is attempting to answer by comparing the health of thousands of former footballers with non-players. Football authorities have been accused of dragging their feet on the matter since former England player Jeff Astle died in 2002, with the coroner citing industrial disease as the cause of death.

Ex-england and Newcastle captain Alan Shearer, famed for his prowess in the air, has helped raise the profile of the issue by speaking of his dementia fears after years of heading balls.

The man tasked with investigating whether there is a direct link is Stewart, whose research team is comparing the medical histories of 10,000 former pro footballers with 30,000 members of the general population.

The study, “Football’s Influence on Lifelong Health and Dementia Risk”, is funded by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association, with the aim of gathering hard evidence on an emotive subject. It was Stewart who in 2014 said that Astle had died aged 59 from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) stemming from head injuries after examining the former player’s brain. The condition is normally associated with boxers.

But he is cautious in his approach and said delving into big data is crucial because the issue is currently clouded by anecdote and speculation.