IT’S NOT ALL IN THE MIND
AS a former Celtic player it has been an awful week with the loss of Tommy Gemmell.
A genuine legend of the club, his passing is terribly sad.
The news of Gemmell’s captain and Lisbon Lions skipper Billy McNeill’s dementia was equally tough for fans across the country to hear.
It was brave of his family to come out and raise awareness of the issue because it has been swept under the carpet for too long.
And it’s high time Fraser Wishart from the Professional Footballers’ Association Scotland and SFA chief Stewart Regan took the opportunity to front up and show they are not going to fail the game’s former heroes and their families like their counterparts down south have.
The Professional Footballers’ Association headed by Gordon Taylor is an association started essentially for the wellbeing of professional players past and present. The association was set up as a supposed safety blanket with a duty of care surely to look after their own.
An association we are told who prides itself on protecting, improving and negotiating the rights, conditions and status of all professional players by collective bargaining agreements.
On their own website it states it has been successful in the challenges it has faced.
There’s maybe some truth in that but as far as the treatment of ex-players who had and those who are currently suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) goes it has failed and is in denial.
Simply look at the facts and make your own judgment.
I keep hearing we need to find the link between heading a football and dementia as well as Alzheimer’s. Well 15 years ago a coroner examined Jeff Astle, a former West Brom player who died aged 59. The coroner concluded heading a football contributed to his death. He died from an “industrial disease”.
As early as 1939 former Manchester United captain Charlie Roberts died after undergoing a seven-and-a-half hour operation on his brain after suffering attacks of dizziness due to heading a football. Five of the Hearts team of the late 1950s have suffered, six of the 1965 Kilmarnock team, as many as six of the England World Cupwinning team of 1966, four of Spurs’ 1961 team ... I could go on.
My father is suffering badly from CTE, we believe. The big issue with CTE, as I understand it, is it can only be diagnosed in a postmortem. My dad needs 24-hour round-the-clock care. At Norwich, a club both he and I played for, they used to head medicine balls in training.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of ex-pros are suffering and that is a fact not fiction. And what are the authorities doing? The people we are trusting to run our game are neglecting our former idols from their ivory towers.
They are terrified of the words “industrial disease”. And the truth is this is why they’ll not acknowledge the link and the coroner in the case of Astle.
It sounds like money over morals to me. Our only union can’t find a way, don’t seem to want to find a way – and the proof is in the pudding.
Taylor hid behind the guise that his mother never played football and she has dementia. I would suggest this was either ignorance or denial but in any case should the head of the PFA be making such crass and frankly insensitive comments? Yes, a significant number of women have dementia. But the number of sufferers from football can’t be overlooked and the key is the numbers – they are staring the PFA in the face.
I urge Wishart and Regan to respond to the questions and facts. Why in the United States can their governing bodies take responsibility and fund testing as a matter of urgency?
It’s not unreasonable for Wishart and Taylor to respond as one but they won’t.
Why did Taylor commission a report but the study was never completed? That’s a sham.
In a letter to Lorraine Astle, Jeff ’s wife, former FA chairman Greg Dyke stated the FA and PFA instigated a study following the effects of heading a ball over a 10-year period but it never reached its conclusion.
And the young players selected all failed to make the standard as professionals. In fairness I believe Dyke wanted to act and push. But Taylor?
We will now find out what men Regan and Wishart are. It is all right hosting the fancy corporate dinners and being part of the backslapping brigades we all know exist in football.
We have heard the bluster from the PFA down south and seen the turning of their backs on the lifeblood, the greatest heroes such as Nobby Stiles.
Of course we need to look after the generations to come with the dangers of heading a ball. Last night’s announcement that Britain’s four football associations will fund a study examining the link between dementia and football is hopefully a step in the right direction.
Testing could and should be done because there are answers and evidence available within players who are suffering.
But the reality is until we get footballing bodies that are not in denial and seem to be more worried about self-preservation than the duty of care to former and current players, nothing will change regarding dementia, Alzheimer’s and CTE.
I hope and pray the bravery of the family of the greatest captain in Celtic’s history, Hail Cesar, in sharing the tragedy of his illness is not all in vain. That action from this moment forward speaks louder than words. I hope
but I’m a cynic. JAYDEN STOCKLEY returns to Aberdeen’s squad after missing two games with a shoulder injury.
But winger Jonny Hayes (hamstring) remains out while Mark Reynolds (hernia) and skipper Ryan Jack (ankle) join him following Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Hamilton.
Partick boss Alan Archibald will welcome right-back Mustapha Dumbuya back into his squad after he missed Wednesday’s 1-0 win at Dundee with a knock.
On-loan Crawley winger Jason Banton is still waiting for his debut following his arrival in January after picking up a groin strain but has a 50-50 shot at being involved. Long-term absentees Sean Welsh (foot), Ryan Scully (shoulder), Stuart Bannigan and Gary Fraser (both knee) remain out.
Top scorers: Adam Rooney (Aberdeen) 16; Kris Doolan (Partick) 9.
Referee: Craig Thomson. CELTIC winger Patrick Roberts has recovered from a hamstring complaint but fellow midfielder James Forrest is still out with a knee injury.
The 25-year-old misses a second game in a row after sitting out the 4-0 away win over Inverness in midweek. Australian midfielder Tom Rogic remains sidelined as well after having an operation on his ankle.
St Mirren, who are chasing a fifth win on the trot, could be missing left-back Adam Eckersley again.
The former Hearts player dropped out of the team that beat Hibs 2-0 in midweek through injury and was replaced by Gary Irvine.
Meanwhile David Clarkson hasn’t played in more than a month following a serious knee injury.
Top scorers: Moussa Dembele (Celtic) 31; John Sutton (St Mirren) 12.
Referee: Steven McLean.