In the opinion of Ryan Mason, the Spurs player whose career was ended when he suffered a fractured skull, heading the ball may disappear completely from the game in the next ten to fifteen years. Such a thing seems unthinkable. Could football be played without aerial challenges, with every lofted pass having to be uncontested?
Yet the idea is gaining traction with the link between a career as a professional footballer and dementia and with high-profile cause celebre rentaquotes like Alan Shearer weighing in with his opinion.
The obvious thing is to blame heading the ball for the increased risk of dementia, but it isn’t actually so straightforward as that. Dementia is multifactorial and rarely can be attributed to a single cause. It is well known that there is an occupational link though - people in mentally unchallenging jobs are far more likely to develop dementia than those whose jobs are intellectually stimulating. Most footballers retire before the age of forty, and most don’t do all that much thereafter to keep their minds active. Many don’t look after themselves as well as they should, becoming overweight and drinking too much, both additional risk factors.
But people aren’t interested in teasing out the complexities. Linking it to heading makes a good story, and certainly plays better than saying “He let himself go a bit" for example. And of course there is the prospect of financial compensation should it be possible to claim that employers were somehow negligent in allowing players to head the ball. Lawyers are licking their lips and ruling bodies will become fearful.
What will be the outcome? There is a need for better quality research to try to identify exactly whether there is actually a link between frequency of heading the ball in training and in matches and development of dementia, or whether other factors are more important, in which case there needs to be more emphasis on post-career care for ex-footballers.
Maybe Brian Clough was a prophet after all when he said that God never intended the ball to be kicked in the air, so he made grass. Could this really happen? Could heading the ball be regarded as much against the rules as handball?
Football heading for a sea-change?
posted on 28/12/20
There aren’t any specific clinical or radiological features that distinguish between dementia caused by repetitive trauma and dementia with other causes, so it becomes somewhat arbitrary what you choose to label it as. Herein lies the difficulty. To a large extent it doesn’t really matter since there isn’t any specific treatment anyway, but it might potentially make a very big financial difference if clubs or ruling bodies are considered to be failing to protect players adequately, and this is the direction it seems to be moving towards in both football and rugby. So there might be huge pressure to label a dementing illness as CTE rather than, say, Alzheimer’s or vascular dementia.
I agree that reducing aerial challenges might be desirable but how can this be done? If a corner comes in you can’t expect defenders to let the striker just nod it into the net unopposed. You can crack down on the Andy Carroll flying elbows but how about the clash of heads that caused Jiminez’s recent injury?
posted on 28/12/20
If you're involved in Contact Sport you're likely to pick up an injury ...ie Boxing, Football, Rugby, Martial arts etc etc . Fact is if you enjoy a particular Sport its up to you if you pursue it. Nobody forces you.
I can remember the old type footballs - it was like heading a Brick. Modern Footballs are much better.
I think if you take Heading / Aerial challenges out it'll be to the detriment of the game.....
posted on 28/12/20
comment by Shaun M - Raphina de vi la loca (U9955)
posted 1 hour, 59 minutes ago
I think the playing out of the back antics is something being pushed onto teams my the head injury agenda. Think teams are being forced into doing. Conspiracy theory perhaps but im leaning towards it.
I 100% believe that heading can perhaps be eliminated at youth level. Playing football on the deck can only help create good footballers. Only issue with that, would be penalising tall playera that are good at aerial duels
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And disadvantageous football players in the senior game when they face players who have played heading at youth level.
posted on 28/12/20
I agree with you Terry but common sense rarely prevails with these things. Soon it will become received wisdom that heading the ball causes brain damage and needs to be stopped. Parents will threaten to sue their school if little Johnny doesn’t get the required number of A stars because it will all be because he has turned out for the school footy team. Ex-players like Gazza will be paraded as examples of the horrors of heading the ball, conveniently forgetting that he never headed it in his career and has spent the last twenty years on the beer. To Hell in a handcart, that’s where we’re going.
posted on 28/12/20
Apostle, I don’t think you can do away with freak accidents, just as you can’t avoid a player tripping whilst running full pelt and going head first into a post or an opponent’s knee, but you can legislate for some of the stuff I mentioned earlier.
I don’t think it’s a question of there being zero risk, which will never occur, but to what reasonable extent risks can be limited.
And by the way, even though there are people suggesting that sub-concussive events might also trigger CTE, I’m far from convinced that just heading the ball is going to trigger it. As I said from the first post, I would like to seen that borne out (or preferably ruled out) by proper and appropriate research.
posted on 28/12/20
The news of several ex England rugby players suing the governing body is absolutely farcical though. It wouldn't be so bad if they had still been amateurs, but for pro rugby players to do this is laughable. It's almost as if they have fallen on hard times?
posted on 28/12/20
There is no way you can ban heading in football without fundamental changes to the whole game which would, effectively, change the game completely.
Besides which, the modern balls are so much lighter that they used to be.
posted on 28/12/20
The fact that what you say is true might not make much difference to those who decide these things though Peeder.
posted on 28/12/20
Professional footballers are paid employees, thus covered by their employers Duty Of Care under the H&S Act.
If you can't mitigate the risk further, and where significant risk remains, you need to design out the
hazard. Dems the rules.
I don't think that boxing carries the same obligations as boxer's fight for a purse, not on PAYE.
posted on 28/12/20
comment by Red Forest Bear [Bear Knows] (U6288)
posted 7 minutes ago
Professional footballers are paid employees, thus covered by their employers Duty Of Care under the H&S Act.
If you can't mitigate the risk further, and where significant risk remains, you need to design out the
hazard. Dems the rules.
I don't think that boxing carries the same obligations as boxer's fight for a purse, not on PAYE.
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I'd wager a lot of Prem. players are also not PAYE.