Stubbs worries about the cost of 50,000 headers

AS a no-nonsense centre-half, Alan Stubbs routinely put his head in where it hurt in pursuit of a clean sheet. During a lengthy professional career, the ex-Bolton, Celtic and Everton defender estimates he must have headed the ball at least 50,000 times. His battling qualities and aerial ability saw Stubbs win the Scottish title twice with the Parkhead club, as well as lifting one Scottish Cup and two League Cups.

It was a career on which the 49-year-old can rightly look back with pride but, increasingly, he also finds himself wondering about the true cost of his days spent heading balls clear of crowded penalty areas. The news that ex-Leeds, Manchester United and Scotland defender Gordon McQueen has been diagnosed with vascular dementia, aged 68, has made Stubbs fear for his own future health. McQueen’s family want to raise awareness of the disease and its links with football after other high-profile cases involving players from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Those include the late Billy McNeill, Frank Kopel, Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles, while Sir Bobby Charlton was diagnosed with dementia last November.

When Stubbs recalls his own playing days, he shudders to think how he remained on the park on several occasions after being knocked unconscious.

And the Scottish Cupwinning former Hibs boss believes more players from his own era should share his concerns.

‘It’s great we’re talking about this now,’ said Stubbs. ‘People have been afraid to talk about it in the past. I don’t think there has been a serious enough conversation about it. ‘I’ve got to be honest, you’re starting to see more and more ex-players from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s coming out with these illnesses and it is worrying.

‘Heading was one of the strongest parts of my game. Repetitive heading, I did it more or less every other day and I didn’t think anything about it. ‘I would stick my head wherever it needed to be in order to stop a goal. I’ve probably headed a ball over 50,000 times and that’s a conservative estimate having been a player for 20 years. ‘I had a number of times when I was knocked out. ‘I was completely out on one occasion and I was calling Barry “Dave” and calling Dave “John”. And you go off, get smelling salts, go back on and you didn’t know the score at the end of the game. ‘When you think about situations like that, I think every player would have to be concerned.

‘The studies that have gone into this — and one of the main studies was from Scotland — the evidence is alarming. It’s very, very worrying.’

Stubbs was referring to the groundbreaking research of Dr Willie Stewart which uncovered a harrowing link between football and brain disease. Stubbs doesn’t support taking heading out of the senior game completely, but is happy to see youngsters being encouraged to head the ball less.

‘From grassroots, children should not be heading the ball as much as they have done in the past because their skulls are still forming,’ he told The Essential Scottish Football Podcast. ‘But I don’t think, personally, that heading should be taken out of the game. Everything should be in moderation.’