THE Scottish Football Association and Scottish Youth Football Association were last night urged to consider limiting how often youngsters can head the ball while further research is carried out into footballers developing dementia in later life.
The family of Billy McNeill, the 1967 European Cup-winning Celtic captain, revealed at the weekend that “Cesar” has become the latest high-profile footballer of his generation to be diagnosed with the degenerative brain disorder.
They believe that repeatedly heading heavy leather balls during his playing days has contributed significantly to McNeill’s condition and would like further studies to be carried out into the potential effects of the practice.
Dr William Stewart, the lead neuropathologist at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, has been researching the impact of head injuries in sport for the last decade and admitted there is anecdotal evidence which suggests that footballers are at greater risk of developing dementia.
Dr Stewart feels that football must follow the lead of other mainstream sports – including American football, baseball and rugby union – and take action now.
“We have to acknowledge there is some potential for risk there and, rather than banning the heading of the ball, just take the first step which is to reduce exposure,” he said. “Reduce exposure in training, perhaps reduce exposure in games for young people.
“The Scottish Football Association and Scottish Youth Football Association - they are the professionals, the experts on the game of football - need to come up with a solution which would reduce exposure to heading and to impact.
“In American football, the NFL decided to take out contact training during the season while they are waiting to gather all the appropriate evidence.
“They accepted that professional American footballers aren’t going to forget how to tackle each other and how to block. But they don’t need to be exposing themselves to unnecessary head injuries and head impacts during the week while they are waiting for the game.
“In baseball, pitchers get degenerative elbow problems as a result of that repetitive pitching action. What baseball decided to do to prolong the careers of pitchers was introduce something called the pitch count. Pitchers can only pitch so many balls in any one session. That varies depending on age.
“What we need to do is take a safe and pragmatic view based on the information that is available to us. In a sense that is what rugby has done. Whilst they are gathering evidence on the risks of concussion in the sport, rugby has adopted a policy that all concussion is bad and must be treated seriously.
“Rugby in the past couple of months looked at the issues and has changed the way that the game is policed. They have become much stricter on high tackles in an attempt to reduce head injuries."
Dr Stewart continued: “These measures are seen as a ‘we’re not quite clear what the problem is exactly, but here is a way to reduce the risk’. Maybe football needs to do something like that. Perhaps they need to say heading sessions only happen so many times a month or a season.
“The most we could suggest is that maybe for youth level what we should be thinking about is restricting exposure to heading. Then we can take a step back and, with a deep breath, consciously look for data.
“These things will encourage parents to allow their kids to play the game because moves are being made to make the game safe, mitigate against the risk and allay these fears.”
The SFA stressed they have been conscious of the suggested link between heading the ball and developing dementia for some time and continue to monitor the situation.
A spokesman said: “The Scottish FA helped produce the first consensus guidelines for the management of concussion in the world.
“In addition, we educate from Sports First Aid at grassroots level, to the Advanced Pitchcare Course for doctors and physiotherapists at elite level and all international teams' medical staff.
“Regarding the specific aspect of heading, we work with partners at UK and world level to examine current scientific evidence.”
The SYFA were approached for comment.
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