Heading the ball and brain damage.

FA bosses have finally announced a major study into links between dementia and the heading of footballs.
A recent survey revealed that some 375 players had developed dementia caused by heading and revealed
that former England centre forward Jeff Astle's death was connected to brain trauma caused by repeatedly heading heavy rain sodden footballs. World Cup winners Nobby Stiles, Ray Wilson and Martin Peters have all developed dementia and there is a school of thought that the deaths of Jimmy Hill and Nat Lofthouse were caused by frequent constant heading during their playing careers.
A study at the University of Glasgow and Hampden Sports Clinic conducted by Dr William Stewart will start in
January 2018. It was Dr Stewart that examined Astle's brain after his death and he found Jeff had suffered CTE, a form of dementia known as boxers brain. On TV at teatime there was a piece on former Chesterfield striker Ernie Moss who suffers from the condition. After his death, he wants to donate his brain so that further research can be done as his family are convinced football is the cause of his brain degeneration.
For long enough the FA have been accused of side stepping the issue, but FA boss Martin Glenn has now said they feel compelled to investigate. One of the steps being recommended is that children should be banned from heading footballs if early research confirms that there is a link. It is anticipated that it might be upwards of three years before conclusive proof one way or the other is available.
Although the effects of the damage caused when the brain impacts with the cranium when a boxer is punched that sport has not been outlawed. Do we feel if conclusive evidence is put forward in the future to prove that heading a football can lead to dementia , there is any possibility heading could be outlawed, with a free kick being awarded should anyone inadvertently forget and head the ball, or like boxing should it be accepted as a natural hazard of the game.?

 

Did you see the documentary with Alan Shearer?

 

I don't know a great deal about this but footballers aren't heading heavy rain soaked balls anymore, the synthetic ones they use today are light as air, do they have the same impact? As the newer balls come out and seemingly get lighter everytime are the problems highlighted by this study already being factored out so heading shouldn't be banned after all?

 

Yes I did CT. I remember them saying that the old leather T balls were lighter than today's match balls,
but they were not waterproof so in wet weather their weight increased greatly. Shearer had a brain scan
as part of the programme and although he headed the ball repeatedly for most of his career I believe the
results showed that his brain was not damaged. I think there must be some link to head trauma injury and
dementia. When I was a lad growing up in Donny we had a guy in the village called Ronnie who owned a caravan site and also bred racing pigeons. During race week every September he used to make a fortune bare knuckle fighting travellers who were in town for the Leger fair. Basically the two contestants were chained by their ankle to a peg in the ground and stood toe to toe knocking seven bells out of each other until one man quit and the towel came in. I don't think Ronnie ever lost a fight and in a way became a local hero because of that. His mates used to make money on the side bets with other travellers for Ronnie to win.
I was in the local WMC I used to drink in on a visit home some years later and saw a blind guy being led to a table by a teenage lad. I was very sad to be told it was Ronnie and even sadder to hear that his blindness had been contributed to by all the hammer he had taken to his head over the many years he had been active in bare knuckle fighting.

 

When I was at university I took up ice hockey and promptly broke my leg. I had to have some surgery, have some pins in it, and now I'm a bit older I'm starting to feel it, but I'd still let my kids pick up hockey. I suppose my ankle only affects myself, whereas dementia affects everybody you know, but that's life. The article mentions Jimmy Hill, the bloke was pushing 90. I doubt he'd have traded a single game.

 

When I started playing football at school we had the brown leather casey with laces in it. Heading the ball hurt like hell and you soon learned to head it properly. I still have the occasional kick about and today's cushioned balls are a world away from the old leather ones. Go down to any park on a Sunday morning and you'll see 12 year olds bending them into the top corner, compare that to the leather days where kids couldn't lift a wet ball off the ground and it says it all. I'm not surprised the pre-70's players have this problem because they will have all played with the leather casey as they went through their development and professional careers.
Having said all that, I would still err on the side of caution and would remove heading from the junior game, although I'm not sure how centre halves would deal with goal kicks and long balls.

 

Even with modern footballs I’ve headed the ball & felt a bit dizzy after, can’t imagine doing that as often as professional players do & it not having an impact