Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Football docs knew of heading risks in 1966
Medics warned chiefs of brain injury dangers
Dixie Dean, who sprang to fame in the 1920s, always carried aspirin with him to ease the crippling headaches he suffered after years of heading the ball.
While fellow England star Tommy Lawton could not shake off headaches he blamed on his playing career between the 1930s and 1950s.
Northern Ireland international Derek Dougan, who played in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, told the magazine: “Time and again after a game I suffer from headaches, obviously from all the heading I do.”
And Leeds centre-back turned journalist Tom Holley, who began his career in the 1930s, said: “I never had headaches before I started playing, and I’ve never really got rid of them.” A few years later Jimmy Hill, who chaired the Professional Footballers’ Association in the 1960s and died in 2015 after suffering from Alzheimer’s, tried to raise the dangers of heading footballs.
His widow Bryony said: “I met Jimmy when I was his secretary in the 70s. I remember him having correspondence from a doctor or professor who was trying to link footballers with dementia and mental problems. Jimmy was very concerned.”
In fact records of doctors blaming brain injuries on heading the ball can be traced back at least 80 years.
In 1939, former Man United captain Charlie Roberts told the Mirror he was having surgery to remove “a growth at the back of my skull which has developed as a result of heading heavy balls so often over 20 years ago”.
He added: “I have been almost like the living dead for the last two years.”
Charlie never recovered from the operation and died days later, aged 56.
The former player’s death certificate listed the tumour and the brain surgery as the causes of his death.
This week research revealed footballers are three-and-a-half times more likely to die of dementia and are at greater risk of other conditions such as motor neurone disease.
The research, funded by the PFA and the FA, looked at pro footballers who were born between 1900 and 1976.
The study was set up two years ago after a campaign by the Mirror and families of former footballers.