Footballers to be banned from heading ball (sort of)

[jdl]

"Scottish footballers to be banned from heading ball before and after matches - former professional footballers were three and a half times more likely to suffer from dementia and other serious neurological diseases."

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/28/scottish-footballers-to-be-banned-from-heading-ball-before-and-after-matches

A strange coincidence for me - I was so bored at the Oldham game, and so frustrated at all the aimless long balls and head tennis, that I remarked to my daughter that all that heading can't be good for players. And this developed into a conversation about what happens to your brain when you head the ball, how weird football would be without heading the ball, what would happen if it was banned and a player instinctively still heads it, etc, etc (for those who weren't there, the game really was that boring).

And then, not much more than a fortnight later, I read this!

So, if, as the stats suggest, heading the ball really is dangerous, will it eventually be banned? And, if so, how would that affect the game?

As we were watching the Oldham 'game' at the time, I couldn't help thinking it would be a bloody good thing if they did ban heading. What's the point of 3G, if you never actually pass the ball to feet?!

[sword65]

If a Scottish footballer developed brain damage how would anyone know, he'd be just like every other Scotsman

[Bernie]

I’ve heard of this and often wonder the same. Not sure I could commit to every header if I was a player.

Also remember reading somewhere it was early Scottish footballers moving to England who introduced the novelty of heading the ball.

[Stonethecrow]

The evidence of footballers suffering brain damage at a level of 3.5 times the rest of us seems plain enough.

Expect more research, studies and reports over the next few years, during which time plenty more footballers will experience the same problems.

Eventually, despite all the moans, groans, disputes and arguments, heading the football will be outlawed.

I'm guessing sometime between 2030 and 2040.

[sword65]

Nov 28, 2022 19:25:01 GMT Stonethecrow said:

The evidence of footballers suffering brain damage at a level of 3.5 times the rest of us seems plain enough.

Expect more research, studies and reports over the next few years, during which time plenty more footballers will experience the same problems.

Eventually, despite all the moans, groans, disputes and arguments, heading the football will be outlawed.

I'm guessing sometime between 2030 and 2040.

Half past 8 and 20 to nine,christ that's quick

[Sennockian69]

So now really.

[hongkongstone]

Nov 28, 2022 19:25:01 GMT Stonethecrow said:

The evidence of footballers suffering brain damage at a level of 3.5 times the rest of us seems plain enough.

Expect more research, studies and reports over the next few years, during which time plenty more footballers will experience the same problems.

Eventually, despite all the moans, groans, disputes and arguments, heading the football will be outlawed.

I'm guessing sometime between 2030 and 2040.

What needs to be considered here though is that heading the old style leather footballs that had soaked up a weight of water which we all had when we were young is completely different to today's lightweight synthetic product. Footballers who played 50 years ago were obviously in far more 'danger' than today's and that needs to be considered in this debate and reserched.

[61666]

I've thought that too, though players are now bigger (about two stone heavier), stronger and hit the ball harder than back in the day, so maybe the problem is still there?
A bigger issue in lower leagues too, where header tennis seems far more common. Glad I played in goal...
Watching wheelchair rugby league recently (now there's a bunch of nutters for you), will we see players wearing tear off strips, so every time they head a ball, they have to lose one? Thinking about it, the data recorder they wear could do that now). Go over the limit and it is an indirect free kick? There again, some headers will not be as dangerous as others, because of less force.
Will we see American football style helmets coming in? Or, like five a side football, the ball has to stay below head height? Not necessarily a bad thing in our league.
Probably best to ban the game completely and only play it by computer simulation. Then you arm the players according to league status and budget. Nukes and lasers for premier League, down to knuckle dusters in lower leagues!

[sword65]

Perhaps they can ban diving to protect players elbows,shoulders and hips whilst they are at it

[shamstone]

Nov 29, 2022 5:43:59 GMT sword65 said:

Perhaps they can ban diving to protect players elbows,shoulders and hips whilst they are at it

And knees and toes

[61666]

Knees and toes

[Deleted]

How do they take into account the likelihood of head injury to footballers when they clash heads or just generally during a game regardless of heading the ball seems to me there will always be an increased percentage of sportsman who do a lot of running and jumping and this studies findings could easily be misrepresentative of this.

Balls are much lighter these days than up to the 70s and even up to the 90'sas well which I suspect would also impact on these figures.

I seriously doubt heading the ball these days is the risk these finding suggest.

[jdl]

The 'heavy leather ball' factor is the great unknown in all this, as the footballers studied were born between 1900 and 1976, so most would probably have played with the old style balls. But, that period included the introduction of the modern, synthetic ball (early 80s onwards), so a significant number of those players (although still a minority) would have played with the new balls as well. But still, by far the largest number of players dying during the study time period would have played exclusively with leather balls.

So, if the type of ball does make a difference, this would seriously affect the validity of this study. But, having said that, anyone who has unexpectedly been whacked in the back of the head by a modern football will tell you it still bloody hurts! Also, a moment's thought about what goes on in your head when you head a ball (basically you're skull stops moving very suddently, but that soft, squishy bit inside carries on moving and collides with the, now stationary, hard bit), would suggest that there is probably still something to worry about.

And there is a definite trend now in many sports (particulary rugby) to make them safer, so I can see heading being banned or severly restricted in the next decade or two. And, probably more significantly, once ex-footballers start taking clubs to court for this sort of thing (which has already happened), things will start to move prety fast.

So, imagine football without heading. No head tennis, no long punts, just passing on the ground. I say, bring it on!

[Bernie]

Were older heavier footballs less likely to be launched skywards due to their weight? So less likely to be headed?

[headstone]

Norman Hunter didn't bother too much about the ball, he just launched opponents skywards. I was reminded of him by Booty's tackle on Saturday, for which he got booked.