I suspect FIFA and the FA will be worried right now

Legal action started by 8 former rugby union players with early on-set dementia. The ramifications for footballers with regards to heading a ball may be huge.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...by-union-players-dementia-landmark-legal-case

 

What about cricketers? Is there a similar pattern to them, especially given they didn't all wear helmets?

 

Being struck on the head as a cricketer is rare. A rugby union forward can expect to get bumped on the head several times per match. The 15 commandments they advocate have future players interest at heart. They suggest that the game's governors did not have the welfare of players in their thoughts when the game changed.

 

Doubtful, it is the repetitiveness in training etc of constant head contact in rugby/ football that is believed to lead to issues, not one-off blows every so often.

 

I wouldn't think so Helen. It's not like rugby were they go in head first multiple times a game. It's quite uncommon to get hit on the head with a cricket ball because they can duck out of the way. In rugby it's the opposite, they actually want to get hit in the head! Madness if you ask me!

 

What are we going to have next? Boxers claiming and mountaineers claiming off land owners? I played football for over 55 years I knew full well the risk of injury, same when I did Karate. No one forces you into doing a sport at the elite levels.

 

I was too old for football and rugby for 20 years before anyone suggested it might lead to long term mental damage.

 

As I said in another thread, there's a difference between knowing risks and mitigating against those risks versus knowing the risks and doing nothing.

 

I think most of the damage to footballers was from the older balls which to be honest were stupidly heavy when wet.Although cutting down on heading in training is sensible.
The thing about heading a football is that by and large unless you get it wrong it’s on the forehead , the heard bit and you’re ready for it.
With rugby it’s often bone on bone and god knows where on the head, never fancied playing it myself and if I’m honest don’t know why anybody would.
I did once get knocked out by a cricket ball when batting but it was very rare to catch one on the head.
Goodness knows what happens with boxers with their brains rattling round thei heads either!

 

There is a defence sometimes used in civil law when a plaintiff brings an action against another party for injuring the plaintiff called "Volenti non fit injuria" which loosely translates as " to he who is willing no harm can incur". I think there are some cases whereby this has been used in cases involving boxers. A boxer goes into the ring in the knowledge that the other bloke is out to hurt him, which is probably the best example of its success.

 

Lineker never used to head the ball in training. He said he knew it was causing damage.

I believe Jeff Astle's death was attributed, by the coronar, to a degenerative brain disease caused by him heading a football repeatedly. I'm surprised that wasn't the start of it to be honest.

 

Willie Stewart, the Consultant Neuropathologist based at University of Glasgow and who led the initial research into the prevalence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in footballers (Field study), feels that the modern footballer is at no less risk than older day predecessors. Even though the modern ball stays lighter than the old leather balls, they travel faster and thus carry just as great a risk from impact on the head. I think I've seen some stats too that showed that heading is more common in football now than 50 years ago.

The concussive effects aren't as much due to bone on bone impact, but rapid deceleration of the head/brain.

I was luck enough to work alongside Dr Stewart for a few weeks during the 2015 Rugby World Cup, he has been influential with developing their concussion protocols. I recall him saying that even in a normal and injury free tackle, the forces between two prop forwards coming together were akin to a 30 mph head-on car crash. And that was repeated numerous times during a match. When you see Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir, it does make you wonder if there's any link.

A great deal of research in progress now to try and fully understand the mechanisms and causes of the 3.5x higher incidence of CTE in footballers compared to society generally.

 

It’s a weird one. What is a professional sportsman to do.?
Runners may expect problems in later life, sure. Racing drivers take their lives in their hands.
& boxing. Fcking hell?
& we’re talking professional sports people here, goes way grass roots too. I don’t know, I really don’t..

 

It's a tough one isn't it. If I get Alzheimer's can I sue my school? I headed a LOT of footballs during my 5 years in comp.

If no Farah finds his knees are knackered in a few years can he sue team GB for allowing him to run long distances?

But then is it really any different to miners suing because the job they chose to do have them vibration white finger? Where is the line? And like you I really don't know

 

I would say so, most miners didn't really have a choice. My dad being a good example, he worked at Hickleton pit before and during the early part of the war before volunteering for the RAF. When he came back he was determined not to go back to the pits and did several jobs for a year or so before going back because the money was better and other jobs hadn't the same security of employment.

 

To a significant extent, it was. His daughter has led a lot of campaigning to raise awareness, which has led to the increased debate there is today.

 

I heard a debate with him on radio 5 live this weekend just gone, his firm argument was that football without heading should be trialled immediately. And as you say, he very persuasively dismissed the argument that this is an issue for the older generation. As he put it, you'd need to wait 30 years to properly determine if modern lighter balls caused less CTE than the older heavier ones.

 

I’m looking forward to the the day when football is a keeps up competition with a rubber balloon. & guitar playing is a non contact art. My old hands will be gratefully retired. In poverty..

 

What are we to do? Wrap ourselves in cotton wool for our whole lives? Never cross a road because we might get knocked down? Don't play a particular sport (either professionally or for leisure) because we might get an injury? Some people are risk averse some are not (Eddie the Eagle springs to mind). It's a really difficult question and there are no easy answers.
There might be a case to answer if you were lied to and told something was harmless when it was clearly not so.

 

Agree with the last sentence.