HEADING FOR
Calls for urgency in how to deal with dementia crisis
IRISH football is bracing itself for a conversation around the dreaded ‘D’ word.
Dementia is once again in the headlines following this past week’s revelation that former Ireland international Joe Kinnear has been living with the disease for the past six years.
Kinnear, who spent most of his playing days at Tottenham before managing Wimbledon and Newcastle United, is the latest high-profile footballer to fall victim to the illness.
Legendary ex-Ireland manager Jack Charlton, Nobby Stiles and Jeff Astle all passed away after suffering from dementia.
Bobby Charlton, Terry McDermott and Denis Law (inset) are among those living with degenerative neurological conditions.
They are not the only ones, with the most recent UK study revealing that professional footballers are up to five times more likely to develop dementia than the general public.
While no formal link has yet been established, calls have been made to either eliminate heading altogether or restrict the number of times that a player heads the ball in training.
Most of these conversations have so far taken place elsewhere, where the profile of footballers suffering from dementia has thrust the subject into the spotlight.
Debate
But here, there is a growing sense of urgency to not get left behind when it comes to the dementia debate.
The PFA Ireland, the body representing professional footballers in Ireland, has requested a meeting with the FAI to discuss the recently-published UK medical reports.
Players’ union chief Stephen McGuinness is eager to get the discussion going as soon as possible.
He wants to sit down with League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon and FAI medical chief Dr Alan Byrne to go through the reports and map out a way forward.
“We want to discuss what we are going to do here,” McGuinness told the Irish Daily Star.
“Are we going to follow protocols introduced in the UK? What’s the plan here?
“Johnny Giles made a good point in light of Joe Kinnear’s diagnosis — I haven’t seen studies yet that looks at, say, journalists — how many journalists get dementia, how many solicitors, dentists or whatever?
“The numbers around footballers do seem high to me, but what’s the figure in wider society?
“It is definitely a conversation that is happening and I have no problem saying to you that I have written to the FAI and requested a discussion.
“We expect to have a discussion with them, probably in the offseason, to look at the reports that are there, and do we make recom(below)
EXCLUSIVE
mendations to clubs regarding heading in training?”
At least one club has already taken matters into their own hands.
During training at First Division Galway United, a count is made of the number of times each player heads the ball.
McGuinness largely has jurisdiction over the welfare of current players and his efforts to engage with the FAI are all about ensuring their safety in the workplace.
Mark O’Neill, on the other hand, has co-founded a group that is made up of ex-players.
Estimated
The Former Players’ Association of Ireland was set up by O’Neill, once of Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic, Aaron Lynch and Brian Honan — to connect as many of the estimated 3,500 former pros together as possible.
While the FPAI was formed to help former players get in touch once again and to promote business networking between them, O’Neill believes it can play a role in the battle against dementia and other diseases.
“People are very mindful of (dementia),” he said. “I suppose there t just isn’t enough information out there at the moment, but it is definitely a topic of conversation among former p players, for sure.
“We are trying to evolve th the FPAI and we are making s strides.
“A lot of what we do is around th the social side and business networking, where players are now since they left the league, and what they are working at.
“But one thing we could possibly do is work with the right body or the right source to compile some kind of survey.
“I am very interested in this personally. It’s very serious and as former players we should definitely talk about it.