[Football] Dementia in football: Ex-players three and a half times more likely to die of condition

[Acker79]

(NB, this bumped thread was started October 2019)

Whenever the topic of dementia in football and links to heading the ball comes up, people are quick to point to modern balls being lighter. Seems some studies have been looking at that:

[tweet]1328971541770592257[/tweet]

 

[Mackenzie]

Hopefully the football association will start taking this seriously.

 

[portlock seagull]

Ban football. Ban everything. We're almost there. Just need to suck the life out of what's left to enjoy and we can all be permanently miserable living in a risk-free world. I hear someone's suing the government over COVID this morning. Sake...

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Ban football. Ban everything. We're almost there. Just need to suck the life out of what's left to enjoy and we can all be permanently miserable living in a risk-free world. I hear someone's suing the government over COVID this morning. Sake...

I unblocked you temporarily.

You really are a dick head, aren't you

 

[Swansman]

Ban football. Ban everything. We're almost there. Just need to suck the life out of what's left to enjoy and we can all be permanently miserable living in a risk-free world. I hear someone's suing the government over COVID this morning. Sake...

Agree. Cant ban everything that is a bit dangerous or suboptimal. Not every efficiency deficit is some obstacle that needs to be undone or some flaw that either needs to be banned or solved. In the perfectly safe world theres is nothing for humans to do or live for, if there is any humans at all. Surely heading in that direction though. College girls spends 10 hours a day on average on their cellphone, college boys almost eight hours. Part of it is because of the fear of everything. Keep going in the same direction and any physical activity will be banned or considered life threatening and people will spend those ten/eight hours locked up in VR helmets.

If humanity is to remain as we know it, we must accept that not all risks can be eliminated.

In this particular question: sure, reduce the risks. Try to find better materials that cause less harm and ban young kids from headers. But dont expect it to entirely be solved, dont expect i.e. dementia to be equally common among those who headed a ball 10 000 times and those who never did. 60 years of living a great, active life beats 90 years of staring into the wall.

 

[portlock seagull]

I unblocked you temporarily.

You really are a dick head, aren't you

I wish you hadn't. You're thoroughly unpleasant. I don't need your toxicity, so off onto the ignore list you go. Permanent ban.

 

[Curious Orange]

Try to find better materials that cause less harm and ban young kids from headers.

Heading has already been banned in training at youth level in England by the FA.

 

[Swansman]

Heading has already been banned at youth level in training.

Ah, I thought that was only in Ireland? (or Wales or Scotland or something).

Good decision anyway for multiple reasons. Not only good from a safety perspective but should also increase technical quality as there are lots of dimensions how to handle the ball with your feet that you need to learn quite early while heading the ball demands less motor skills and can be worked on at a later stage of player development.

 

[Curious Orange]

Ah, I thought that was only in Ireland? (or Wales or Scotland or something).

Good decision anyway for multiple reasons. Not only good from a safety perspective but should also increase technical quality as there are lots of dimensions how to handle the ball with your feet that you need to learn quite early while heading the ball demands less motor skills and can be worked on at a later stage of player development.

I should clarify what 'banned' means in the English context. The FA guidance is not to include it in training at all for age groups up to and including under 11s. After that some very limited practice can be introduced, but it is made clear that it is not a priority.

My personal thoughts are that the FA's approach is a pragmatic one, there are other areas of the game that are more important, however it is also necessary that players are taught how to head the ball properly at some point in order to avoid getting a concussion in the future.