Headers must be banned as footballers are more likely to die of dementia

Footballs should be sold with a health warning that repeated heading can lead to a higher dementia risk, says Professor Willie Stewart, who discovered headers can leave professional football defenders five times more likely to die of dementia than the general public.

In findings published in the journal JAMA Neurology, research by the consultant neuropathologist at University of Glasgow reveals the risk of neurodegenerative disease in later life in former professional footballers varies by player position and career length but not by the era in which they played football.

While defenders face the highest dementia risk, outfield players are four times more likely to have brain disease like dementia, forwards are three times more likely but goal keepers face almost no greater risk when compared to the general population.

70% of people in care homes have dementia

Professor Stewart believes the risk of heading must be eliminated from the sport to protect footballers’ brains.

"Unlike other dementias and degenerative diseases, where we have no idea what causes them, we know the risk factor [with football] and it's entirely preventable.

"We can stop this now and to do that we have to reduce, if not eliminate, unnecessary head impacts. Is heading absolutely necessary for football to continue? Is exposure to the risk of dementia necessary for football?

"I've yet to see any evidence that heading a ball is good for you. There are dreadful levels of dementia and I can't see the benefit of that.”

No less than 70 per cent of people in care homes have dementia or severe memory problems, according to the Alzheimer's Society.

Numerous footballers in England’s 1966 World Cup squad died of dementia and earlier this year the widow of World Cup winner Nobby Stiles donated his brain to Professor Stewart’s research into sports-related dementia.

Professor Willie Stewart was commissioned by the Football Association and Professional Footballers' Association in 2017 to carry out research on footballers’ brain health.

His research highlighted that the risk of death from dementia was much higher for footballers, prompting football authorities locally in England and Scotland to eliminate heading at youth level.

Dementia risk increases the longer a football career lasts

His latest research is based on analysis of the health records for 7,676 Scottish former male professional footballers born between 1900-1976 and matched them against 23,000 men from the general population.

Professional footballers were typically aged between 20-28 years old in his study ‘Association of field position and career length with neurodegenerative disease risk in former professional soccer players’.

Despite changes in football technology and head injury management over the decades, researchers found no evidence that the dementia risk changed for footballers in the study whose careers spanned from 1930 to the 1990s.

The research revealed the risk of dementia increased the longer a player's football career is.

“Dementia… we’ve got no cure for at the moment. This dementia associated with head injury is one that’s potentially entirely preventable.

“Unfortunately this is a condition which appears 30, 40 years after exposure.

“This is the time now to say let’s just try and eliminate this and in 30 years hopefully we’ll be looking back and saying ‘How crazy were we heading a ball?”

The research follows the government's appointment of Laurence Geller to the role of Ministerial Advisor on Concussion in Sport in July. He is the founder of a care home rated Outstanding for its dementia support.

Also published at the end of July is new guidance for English football on the heading limits for professional and amateur players in training. From next season professional players will be limited to 10 'higher-force' headers in training from long passes, corners or free-kicks. Amateur football players are limited to 10 headers a week.

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said: “We already have the most comprehensive guidelines in the world for youth football and now we are introducing, in partnership with the other football bodies, the most comprehensive adult football guidelines anywhere. Our heading guidance now reaches across all players, at all levels of the game.

“We are committed to further medical research to gain an understanding of any risks within football, in the meantime this reduces a potential risk factor.

“Overall, it's important to remember that the overwhelming medical evidence is that football and other sports have positive impacts on both mental and physical health.”

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters added: “Our priority is to make the game as safe as possible for all players.”

Professor Stewart believes the new football guidance is not based on science. He argues there is no basis to say 10 headers of a certain level will make a difference to the risk. To assess whether 10 high-force head impacts might make a difference, he argues, researchers would have to wait 30 to 40 years.