[Football] Denis Law and dementia

[Lenny Rider]

Who are you wanting them to sue? Making football authorities or clubs responsible when they were not aware of the long term risks 40 years ago is likely to be very difficult to achieve imo, but I'm no lawyer

Is it not a work place injury?


I know a of reputable local building company who had to pay out in excess of £150,000 in 2015 for an asbestos issue from 1966, or is it okay because its football and in the main they were all well paid and provided entertainment?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Is it not a work place injury?


I know a of reputable local building company who had to pay out in excess of £150,000 in 2015 for an asbestos issue from 1966, or is it okay because its football and in the main they were all well paid and provided entertainment?

Couldn't the same be said about professional boxing?

 

[Lenny Rider]

Couldn't the same be said about professional boxing?

I can't see that not going to court at some point either.

 

[Swansman]

Anyone know the comparative weight of a regulation size 5 match ball from the 60's or 70s against a current matchball? Weight differential must be immense. The ball's from that era, the ones with the untreated leather and the threaded laces, used to soak up and retain water to really quite stupid levels

Same starting weight but obviously that changed whenever it was raining.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

Wonder how likely it is that we’ll see players wearing head protection within the next 10 years.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Sickening.

The number of ex players of that era who've had this terrible illness is very high

My late Father in Law played for Hearts,Kilmarnock and Scotland and developed Alzheimers in his late 60s. He was a centre half and there is no doubt that the years of heading a heavy football were a major contributory caus in him getting this terrible illness.


TNBA


TTF

 

[drew]

Is it not a work place injury?


I know a of reputable local building company who had to pay out in excess of £150,000 in 2015 for an asbestos issue from 1966, or is it okay because its football and in the main they were all well paid and provided entertainment?

Mesothelioma was linked to asbestos as early as the 40s. To have a claim, I would suggest the employer has to either have knowledge of the risk or could be expected to be aware of the risk.

Also, it's unlikely the company paid the £150,000, it would have been their insurers.

 

[Kosh]

As Tom said, those old school balls were like sponges - they still were pretty bad in the early 80s. I remember heading some ridiculously heavy balls during my youth, though thankfully not everyday!!

As others have quite rightly stated, head protection will surely be designed and implemented as even a small % win must be seen as viable. I still play football every-week and we tend to keep it on the ground, but I rarely head the ball in any event, as a small winger type I'm the one sending the crosses in... it's horrible to think that those players who set headed goals up in the past somehow contributed to this hideous fallout.

I have to say it's certainly changed the way I play the game, I send crosses in low, I avoid aerial challenges and step off... I'm probably not at risk tbh, but for people like Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk... they must be thinking about this, it's a pretty stark reality to have to contemplate, no matter the money in the game.

 

[Lenny Rider]

Mesothelioma was linked to asbestos as early as the 40s. To have a claim, I would suggest the employer has to either have knowledge of the risk or could be expected to be aware of the risk.

Also, it's unlikely the company paid the £150,000, it would have been their insurers.

Drew, apologies, it clearly was their insurers I was just making the point about historic work place injuries.

 

[CheeseRolls]

A wonderful footballer, great pundit and it seems a thoroughly decent human being. I can only wish him and his family well.

 

[drew]

Drew, apologies, it clearly was their insurers I was just making the point about historic work place injuries.

No worries. However, the point about there needing to be negligence on the part of the employer still stands.

 

[timbha]

Couldn't the same be said about professional boxing?

Or rugby players with cauliflower ears,

 

[Lenny Rider]

Or rugby players with cauliflower ears,

In all seriousness Tim one of England’s 2003 WC winning team has no recollection of the game.

 

[timbha]

In all seriousness Tim one of England’s 2003 WC winning team has no recollection of the game.

That’s awful and I wasn’t trying to make light of such a serious condition. I was just trying to pose a “and where does it stop?” question in professions where extreme physical effort is required to succeed.

 

[dangull]

It could be that in the future heading a ball will be banned, in which case the game will be less enjoyable to watch.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Who are you wanting them to sue? Making football authorities or clubs responsible when they were not aware of the long term risks 40 years ago is likely to be very difficult to achieve imo, but I'm no lawyer

Quite.

With ciggies the companies actively stoked propaganda against the dangers when they knew they existed. Not the case here.

But I have heard Chris Sutton on this topic though and he (correct me if I misheard) is scathing of the PFA and its multi million pound former chairman for not pursuing this years ago.

Incidentally has there been any experimentation on lighter balls? The smack on the head I got from a soddem leather ball in the 1960s was never matched by anything from a ligher ball later. I appreciate that force = mass x acceleration but unless players can make the ball go faster the force would reduce with lighter balls wouldn't it. I think this has go something to do with power being equal to the rate of change of work in time, and with a lighter ball the transfer of force occurs quicker since the ball leaves the foot sooner.

(apologies for any mistakes - I got only a grade 4 for my physics GCE in 1973 )

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It could be that in the future heading a ball will be banned, in which case the game will be less enjoyable to watch.

I can't see how this is possible. Balls come flying at players' heads. It is more likely they will all have to wear a version of Petr Cech's hat. (And use a lighter ball).

 

[Icy Gull]

It could be that in the future heading a ball will be banned, in which case the game will be less enjoyable to watch.

Not when we play Burnley they won’t!

 

[Icy Gull]

Quite.

With ciggies the companies actively stoked propaganda against the dangers when they knew they existed. Not the case here.

But I have heard Chris Sutton on this topic though and he (correct me if I misheard) is scathing of the PFA and its multi million pound former chairman for not pursuing this years ago.

Incidentally has there been any experimentation on lighter balls? The smack on the head I got from a soddem leather ball in the 1960s was never matched by anything from a ligher ball later. I appreciate that force = mass x acceleration but unless players can make the ball go faster the force would reduce with lighter balls wouldn't it. I think this has go something to do with power being equal to the rate of change of work in time, and with a lighter ball the transfer of force occurs quicker since the ball leaves the foot sooner.

(apologies for any mistakes - I got only a grade 4 for my physics GCE in 1973 )

The dementia so many players have suffered from is very sad but I just don’t see who can be held responsible and expected to pay out when nobody, certainly not the authorities or clubs, were aware that dementia could follow on from heading the ball in the distant future.

The rest of your post made me glaze over, maths and physics were definitely my weakest subjects and I’d be a shelf stacker at best if calculators hadn’t been invented.

 

[banjo]

Very sad news.