IT’S A LONG SHOT BUT WEALTHY FANS COULD BE OUR LIFELINE
A scientist who has linked heading a football to instant brain damage has appealed for wealthy supporters to fund more research.
Dr Magdalena Ietswaart urged rich football club owners and shareholders such as Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich, Rangers and Newcastle United’s Mike Ashley and former Spurs chief Lord Alan Sugar to fund her research project to protect players in future.
Dr Ietswaart is part of a Stirling University team who detected direct changes in the brain from a footballer heading a ball 20 times.
She said: “We’re plugging away but we need generous funding.
“When our report was published, I was hoping a rich person would put their hand in their pocket. Anyone who has an interest and wants to make a difference could help us answer the quest ions that are there.
“The only way to get answers is through investing in research, which is expensive.
“I would love it if one of the game’ s rich supporters felt like they wanted to do something to help.
“Some of these guys are billionaires who can buy a superyacht with loose change.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t like to think the players they cheer on today could be suffering in years to come. They can make a difference.” The Sunday Mail have been campaigning for families of ex-players hit with dementia. They are calling for football authorities to fund more research into the devastating illness.
The research team’s website, Stirling Brains, features a crowdfunding page for donations.
Stirling University’ s study rocked the sport when it was published in science journal EbioMedicine in October.
Research found that even light, 21st- century footballs impair brain function.
Players headed the ball 20 times in experiments and results revealed memory performance was reduced by between 41 and 67 per cent in the 24 hours after the tests. It raised questions about the effects over a number of years for the 250million people worldwide who play the sport.
A number of ex- professional players have been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, caused by repeated blows to the head.
In 2002, a coroner ruled that former West Bromwich Albion and England striker Jeff Astle, who died aged 59 after suf fering dementia for five years, was killed by an “industrial disease”.
Dr Ietswaart said: “The research published is just the start – and this was a modern, 21st-century ball, not an old leather ball. That is the disturbing thing about our results. It wasn’t anything outrageous, it was 20 repeats, standard for a practice drill.
“Does heading the ball mean you’re going to get dementia earlier as you created a nasty environment for the brain that was stressful for it and made it age quicker?”
In the US, heading has already been banned for under-12s and restrictions placed on how often older players can do it in training.
The Sunday Mail told last week how the Scottish Youth Football Association were considering a similar policy.
Dr Ietswaart warned: “I can understand the response, ‘ We’ll just ban heading under the age of x.’ But the brain is developing right up to an age when footballers are still in their prime. It is in a state of f lux and there’s all kinds of reorgani sat ion going on, particularly in the front part of the brain.
The brain is developing right up to the age when footballers are stlll in their prime
“We don’t know what heading the bal l means for a developing brain, so we don’t know what the safe limits are.”
Dr Ietswaar t believes football may have to deal with heading in the same way as the tackle f r om behind, which was outlawed.
She says more research needs to be done to define safe limits.
She added: “We’re all going to live much longer and we might be living a little bit past the shelf life of our brains. So it is very important the brain lasts as long as it can do, otherwise we’re going to have a very ugly time of ageing.
“I understand it’s difficult for the football authorities but I’m also thinking of their responsibility towards the population as a whole. More than 250million people play football and head the ball regularly.
“There was an article in the New York Times which said, ‘Let’s think about a football world without heading. What would that look like?’ But many people would be horrified to even contemplate it.
“Perhaps the way to go is to redefine safe limits. We believe the research techniques we have can help us say, ‘ These are safe limits.’”
To make a donation to fund research, go to stirlingbrains.org/ get-involved