Fallon’s balloon tuition

THE origins of the All Whites’ most famous headed goal can be traced back to practising with a balloon as a child.

Rory Fallon sent New Zealand to the 2010 World Cup when scoring the lone goal of the 2009 intercontinental playoff against Bahrain.

Fallon jumped highest, engaged his neck muscles and powered the ball into the back of the net with his head.

But that moment might not have happened if his dad, former All Whites coach Kevin Fallon, had not taken such a structured approach to teaching Rory, and his brother Sean, how to head a ball.

‘‘I used to get them practising heading with a balloon,’’ Kevin Fallon said.

‘‘When they were kids all the heading motion - weight on the back foot, attack the ball, that type of thing - as they started growing, I’d get them little plastic balls. We used to call them Fridos. They practised with little light, plastic balls. Then when they were 12, 13 they went to footballs, but only their sized ones.

‘‘I never, ever had them heading them heavy bloody balls as kids.’’

That last point has become particularly pertinent with research starting to emerge about the potential dangers of heading a ball from an early age.

The United States Soccer Federation banned heading for under-10s and limited it in training for 11 to 13-year-olds in 2015, but it was important to note that action came not because of overwhelming scientific evidence, but as a settlement to a group of parents and players filing a class-action lawsuit about concussion.

Fallon would not want to see a similar ban applied to New Zealand, describing heading as a ‘‘craft’’ when taught correctly.

The other aspect scientists are growing worried about are the long-term effects of heading the ball.

Several former players in England from Fallon’s era have developed dementia, with their families attributing it to heading the heavy leather balls they played with in the 1960s and 1970s.

Fallon, now 69, said he had suffered no long-term issues from heading those balls.

‘‘A lot of people might think I have, but I don’t think so ... I can still count my dollars,’’ he said with a laugh, before noting he would be a prime candidate for such issues. ‘‘I don’t think anyone headed the ball more than me. I was a centre back. Centre back and centre forward head a lot of balls.’’

He did not know of any of his contemporaries who were struggling.

‘‘That’s probably the biggest issue. While there may be some long-term effects from a career of heading the ball, science has yet to fully establish that link,’’ he said.