Footballers and dementia

Years of heading a football can’t be good , seems like common sense to me . I feel strongly that heading the ball should be banned for all school children regardless of age. IMO it should be banned full ✋ !

The current guidelines don't stop children from heading the ball in matches, butthey do forbid heading the ball as part of training until the age of 12– when it is gradually introduced.

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I see your points, probably banning it is the better idea after all.

Football is a non contact sport.

There needs to be far more investigation into CTE. There have been studies etc in America and there was at one point a class action lawsuit against the NFL from players because of the long term effects of CTE.
Apparently American Footballers have got higher risk of developing CTE because despite the helmet, recurring concussions still happen. From memory it’s to do with the brain being damaged when players are being tackled, which a helmet can’t prevent.

Any contact sport which leaves the player open to recurring blows to the head or concussions need to research this, because there may be a correlation (there has been no official cause and effect proved) between CTE and increased aggression/reduced brain function. When coupled with drug/steroid abuse this issue creates huge volatility and is a disaster waiting to happen.

There have been some tragic cases which CTE have played a part in with one in particular of a wrestler who killed his wife and child before killing himself. When his brain was examined post-mortem, the CTE organisation said that due to recurring concussions he had (in his mid forties) the brain of an 80 yo dementia patient.

A football weighs between 14 to 16 ozs and can be travelling at nearly 80 miles per hour so I don’t think the situation is going to improve in the present day, if it is heading the football that causes dementia. There is a lot of research going on at the moment to establish the correlation. After all a lot of people develop dementia who have never been anywhere near a football in their life.

I think the same with boxing.
The head isn`t meant to be hit or for heading a ball,FOOT is the key answer,it`s football not headball.
I imagine the speed the ball is kicked at can only cause serious damage in the long run.

When most of these players were playing, the balls were far heavier than the ones used now.

It would be alright if we were like woodpeckers where the skull is designed for regular impact.

I wonder how much more evidence of ex footballers with dementia will appear now?
Will the evidence have any impact of the use of heading.
How do you feel about your GC playing football in the light of this evidence?
I’m glad none of mine played, though the injuries they acquire BMX cycling, dancing and skateboarding still worries me.

i suppose some kind of totally energy=absorbing sponge could be devised, but then it would give no bounce at all, the ball would fall dead, which defeats the game, as well being so cumbersome as not to be practicable.

i don't think any kind of head protector would help much.
those scrum caps in rugby are for keeping one's ears on, also to protect the scalp from cuts and abrasions.
if you imagine some eggs in a box. if you wrap that box in bubble wrap then drop it on the ground, it is quite likely the eggs will break.
similarly it is the movement of the brain inside the skull, being bashed against it, and twisting, that causes the damage.
that is why some people think the use of helmets in amateur boxing can be a negative, as it increases the target area ie makes one's head wider, so easier to hit, and the referred jolt to the brain is as bad as to an unhelmeted head.

May not be so easy Bumblebee. Footballers are taught to head with their foreheads as this is the strongest and ‘safest’ part of the head so you would need a helmet just above the eyes where the ball cannot catch on an edge. Also in making it strong enough it could be dangerous for other players. The safest answer is to ban heading in football.

That is true 25 Avalon but I would have thought something similar, perhaps specifically made for the purpose of absorbing the shock of a ball hitting the skull isn’t beyond the realms of possibility in this day and age. I have absolutely no knowledge of the game of football apart from what is on our screens so might well be talking utter balls (pardon the pun ?)

Rugby players don’t head

Why not make head protectors compulsory, as some of the rugby players wear. Surely that would give some protection at least.

I read that they have always weighed about a pound, but I think the older ones, when the leather became wet, must have gained weight during the game. I think you’re right about that being more dangerous, especially when you think of how often it rains in the football season.

OK. I assumed the weight of the ball being headed would be an important factor. Obviously I’m wrong.

Now they’re inventing training apps with virtual reality headsets and apps to encourage heading balls at a certain angle. I’ll be dead before they find out if any of those stops banging a speeding ball with your head contributing to the likelihood of dementia.
To me it seems like the 20 mph limits-you’ll still get hurt but you’re less likely to be killed. Possibly living with mild dementia still seems a poor option.

Ladyleftfieldlover research on dementia in football, based on health records of around 8,000 former professional football players in Scotland, showed the findings of increased dementia were the same regardless of the era in which the players competed. The records were from the 1930’s to the 1990’s.

The risk to goal keepers was the same as in the general population. Outfielders were 4 times as likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease and defenders were 5 times as likely. It’s to do with force and angles. Arguably old style footballs could not be kicked so hard or as fast as new ones. It also depends how often you head the ball.

The Premier League have restricted the number of times a week a player is permitted to head a high powered ball in training to 10. All other adult football is similarly restricted. Research is being undertaken this season looking towards a formal review of FA guidance next year.

The game would have to change a great deal to take heading out altogether and it would need to be FIFA lead. As we stop youngsters playing headers however, then given time it could extend into the adult game. We still permit boxing, however, albeit with similar restrictions, so we shall see.

'Ladyleftfieldlover* Does it make a difference to your dementia what type of ball caused the brain injury that led to the dementia?

You either have to ban it totally or not at all. It would be silly to introduce a limit to the number of times per week because the ball doesn't conveniently arrive in your path when you want it and not when you don't.

Whilst I agree with what’s been said on here and the rules advocated by the FA this needs to be driven by FIFA, IFAB and UEFA too, so it’s from the top down, worldwide. Then heading the ball will gradually be totally removed from the game.

So that makes it ok Ladyleft have you ever tried heading a modern day football coming at you at 90 miles per hour (The average speed of a hard kick) No I thought not