April 11 – The English Football Association wants FIFA to investigate whether there are definitive long-term health hazards from too much heading of the ball.
The news comes after it was revealed that three members of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad – Martin Peters, Nobby Stiles and Ray Wilson – all have Alzheimer’s after playing with heavier leathers balls than today.
The FA’s medical chief Dr Ian Beasley is keen to discover if dementia is more common in ex-professionals. “We are taking some research questions to FIFA imminently,” he said.
“The trouble is we just don’t know. It’s a massive undertaking to try and decide whether there’s an association between having played professional football and cognitive decline.
“The hope is [FIFA] will tell us one way or another,” said Beasley who is also the England national team doctor. “You may still want to be a professional footballer but at least we can advise you what the chances are of something irreversible happening to you.”
In 2002, former England striker Jeff Astle died aged 59 from a brain condition normally linked to boxers and attributed to repeated heading.
Last year, the US Soccer Federation recommended a ban on headers for players 10 and under in a bid to address concerns about the impact of head injuries.
FIFA’s chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak says any link between professional football and brain damage is so far unproven.
“We have very little evidence that would substantiate that assumption for football players,” Dvorak said at the Football Medicine Strategies conference in London.
“But that’s the reason why we are also studying the long-term changes of former professional male and female footballers. Not only for brain dysfunction, but also early onset of osteoarthritis.”
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