My Frank would have benefited if authorities had stopped him heading a ball.. I’m delighted Scotland is leading way
– AMANDA KOPEL
WIDOW Amanda Kopel has applauded the Scottish Football Association’s move to ban kids heading footballs – but says more must be done to prevent brain traumas.
The wife of late Dundee United star Frank Kopel, who died aged 65 suffering from vascular dementia decades after heading heavy footballs, has campaigned for 12 years to highlight the dangers.
She believes the groundbreaking approach by the SFA will stop many players’ later lives being blighted or curtailed by brain injuries.
And she agrees with doctors who say more measures should be introduced to reduce head traumas in sport.
A ban on children heading the ball in Scotland could be in place within weeks due to fears over the links between football and dementia.
Amanda, 68, said: “Frank and I were school sweethearts and I watched him heading balls at the age of 10.
“If you told him then that the headers might lead to a brain illness in later life, he would have done it anyway because he was fanatical about football.
“But he would have benefited if authorities had stepped in to tell him and his team-mates that they wouldn’t be heading balls any more.
“It’s now well-established that these traumas can be very damaging to growing brains, so I feel delighted that Scotland is leading the rest of Europe with these steps.
“We should be taking other steps to reduce head injuries across all sports rather than waiting for research to tell us what is obvious.”
Amanda lost Frank in 2014 and campaigned for Frank’s Law, which extends free personal care in Scotland to under-65s.
She added: “Frank was able to tell me that the law changes wouldn’t help him but would protect those coming after him. I’m sure he would think the same about the SFA measures.”
Amanda has formed a close bond with wives of other footballers hit by brain injuries through heading footballs, including Celtic legend Billy McNeill’s wife Liz and Dawn Astle, daughter of West Bromwich Albion star Jeff.
The SFA’s heading ban plan comes after a Glasgow University report, revealed in the Record’s sister paper the Sunday Mail, linked head trauma to later life Alzheimer’s, Motor Neurone Disease and Parkinson’s. The study, published last year, found footballers are three-and-a-half times more likely to die of a neurodegenerative disease than age-matched non-players. University experts, led by consultant neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart, compared the deaths of more than 7000 professional footballers, who played between 1900 and 1976, to 23,000 from the general population. The US has had restrictions in place since 2015 but the SFA’s move – to ban under-12s heading the ball in training – would make Scotland the first European country to take official measures.
Dr Stewart said: “A move to reduce head impacts in youth sports is a good idea but I would caution that it’s probably not enough.
“It’s not enough just to say, ‘Let’s take heading out of the game in the under-12s’. I think we need to look across the entire game – amateurs, seniors and professionals – and say, ‘Where else can we make changes to be effective?’
“And not just in football. Look across all sports and think, ‘What could we do differently?’ It’s a good start but I hope this isn’t the end, that by changing under-12s we’re somehow solving the problem.
“We haven’t got the cast-iron evidence of direct causality but what
we have is more than enough evidence which says there’s a strong association between contact sports and the development of dementia.
“When we look at what is the common factor, exposure to head injury and head impact is the one thing that stands through.
“There may be other things we haven’t yet recognised.”
SFA doctor John MacLean, who was part of the research team, said: “We can’t wait on the evidence, one way or the other, on heading.
“We need to take some sensible, pragmatic steps and that’s largely going to be about trying to reduce the overall times that young players head – and heading in training is much more common than in matches.
“The study was never designed to, and couldn’t identify, why. But most people would say, pragmatically, that it would be head injury or heading, in whatever combination that would be.”
Dawn Astle, whose dad Jeff died aged 59 in 2002 from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – now closely associated with football – said: “We’re very pleased. We applaud them for trying to put things in place to reduce the risk and not hanging on and keeping on saying, ‘More research, more research’.
“I wished our (English) FA would do it. I hope now one (association) has, they will all follow suit. It’s not like a metatarsal injury – this is something that kills you.”
Rangers boss Steven Gerrard backed the SFA’s move and suggested using lighter balls for heading practice. He said: “The numbers are scary and alarming, and that’s why I agree on the seriousness with which this issue is being taken.
“I used to love heading balls, probably from the age of four.
“I wouldn’t take it away from kids completely because they’ll be watching their heroes every day on TV, heading and scoring goals.
“But you can do things to help them by making the balls smaller or lighter.
“It’s certainly something I back in terms of the seriousness of the dementia risk.”
Former Celtic striker John Hartson, who was famous for his crashing headers, said: “Managers bought me because I could head the ball.
“There have been some serious situations where players have lost their lives and ex-legends suffering from dementia, so I’m glad the SFA are leading the rest of football and doing something about it.”
Grassroots clubs have indicated they would embrace new safety measures. Stenhousemuir FC has already implemented a ban on all teams and players under the age of 11 from heading footballs.
Giffnock Soccer Centre in Glasgow has removed the heading of footballs across its smaller-side squads up to and including seven-a-side teams.
You can do things to help, like making balls lighter
STEVEN GERRARD ON STEPS TO REDUCE INJURY RISKS