Safety first for young footballers - 8th August 2022

High rates of brain disease in football players have resulted in a ban on heading the ball for young players.

The Football Association (FA) is to run a trial in the next football season for under 12 year olds in England, in football leagues, clubs and schools. If the experiment goes well, the goal is “to remove deliberate heading from all football matches” at pre-teen level from the following season.

Research into football and head injuries has been carried out by Dr Willie Stewart, a brain disorder specialist. Findings reveal that professional footballers are three and a half times more at risk of dying from dementia, compared with the general population. In response, new recommendations were brought out last year. They stated that professional footballers in England should perform no more than 10 “higher force headers” weekly in training.

Several members of the 1966 England World Cup team suffered from brain functioning disorders, as well as other prominent players such as Jeff Astle, former goalscorer for West Bromwich Albion. His daughter Dawn leads the project for degenerative brain diseases in football at the Professional Footballers’ Association. She welcomed the trial, saying, “Football has a duty of care to continue to mitigate against the risks of heading a ball.”

Director of the charitable organisation Dementia UK, Paul Edwards, was also relieved. “This decision from the FA is important as it shows an increased awareness of the damage that can be caused to the brain from prolonged heading of a ball.” He added that it was an effective way to reduce future cases of brain functioning diseases.

The measures are good for footballers. Whether they will affect ‘the beautiful game’ itself remains to be seen.