Phasing out Heading from Football - Yay or Nay?

[Alan Whittle]

That's a silly argument Goat. No one complains about wearing a seat belt or that air bags destroy the driving experience, but both make driving safer to do. I don't need our players ballsing their brains up for my entertainment.

That’s great MP argument stuff Bruce. Attempt to ridicule the question rather than answer it.
You don’t mind them breaking their legs? tearing their ligaments, having on pitch heart attacks? Some rules necessary to counter the effects of those? No tackling? No running?

 

[ForeverBlue92]

Worlds gone daft.

Balls used today nothing like the ones linked to dementia for the older players of yesteryear

 

[Bruce Wayne]

As per @MikelsGoat boxing carries a risk - a much bigger one, but people still do it. Any kind of motorsport, or anything to do with horses and we could go on. Kids play football in the park for the fun of it and will still head balls.

They've reduced heading in training and banned underage groups from it altogether, this seems sensible. How sanitised do you want life to try and rule out injuries almost completely? We're talking about people in their seventies/eighties getting dementia, that could just be a result of longer lives and they would have had it regardless. I'm not saying it doesn't increase the factor in getting dementia as that is fairly clear but we don't know what is going on in our ticking time bombs we call our bodies. I would also like to see the results of people who are in their 40's/early 50's before we do anything as drastic as banning heading altogether. We all know the footballs that Booby Charlton and Co used to head are nothing like the ones of today.

I don't much care for boxing, but I'd imagine the use of the headwear they use in the Olympics would reduce the impact of blows to the head. If it's as simple as giving people a cap to wear so they can head the ball a bit more safely then that's no different to kitting people out with shinpads IMO. I don't get why people are so up in arms about wanting to protect people's mental health.

 

[Alan Whittle]

I don't much care for boxing, but I'd imagine the use of the headwear they use in the Olympics would reduce the impact of blows to the head. If it's as simple as giving people a cap to wear so they can head the ball a bit more safely then that's no different to kitting people out with shinpads IMO. I don't get why people are so up in arms about wanting to protect people's mental health.

I don’t think they are Bruce. They are up in arms about banning heading.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

That’s great MP argument stuff Bruce. Attempt to ridicule the question rather than answer it.
You don’t mind them breaking their legs? tearing their ligaments, having on pitch heart attacks? Some rules necessary to counter the effects of those? No tackling? No running?

Well there have been various changes to the laws of the game to make the kind of tackles commonly seen in the past a straight red card offence (and many did complain that the game had gone soft as a result). Personally speaking, I would love to see the game do much more to outlaw the use of cortisone and other painkillers that are liberally used to get players on the field when they really shouldn't be as that has been well proven to cause all manner of arthritis type problems in later life.

I don't believe the heart attack issue is comparable. Half of the England world cup winning team developed dementia. I don't recall half of them dying on the pitch from a heart attack.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I don’t think they are Bruce. They are up in arms about banning heading.

Which has been proven to cause dementia, ergo, being able to head the ball with no protection is more important to you than the player's mental health.

 

[Goat]

I don't much care for boxing, but I'd imagine the use of the headwear they use in the Olympics would reduce the impact of blows to the head. If it's as simple as giving people a cap to wear so they can head the ball a bit more safely then that's no different to kitting people out with shinpads IMO. I don't get why people are so up in arms about wanting to protect people's mental health.

The thinking behind not giving them head gear is that some players will think they are invincible and go around heading peoples feet.

 

[Goat]

It was in that piece you posted @Bruce Wayne

Offering padded helmets to players is not a solution, he said, since “when you put protective headgear on people and take away that pain sensation, people are more inclined to put their heads in the wrong place”.

 

[Alan Whittle]

I don't believe the heart attack issue is comparable. Half of the England World Cup winning team developed dementia. I don't recall half of them dying on the pitch from a heart attack.

Could they have developed it anyway?
Heading the ball may have been only partially responsible in some cases?

 

[Carloblues]

Which has been proven to cause dementia, ergo, being able to head the ball with no protection is more important to you than the player's mental health.

In most sport you play there is a risk of injury,

If your so worried about the risks of it don't play it

 

[mmmmsnouts]

Heading banned in 5-a-side but can’t possibly be done in proper football.

Why would you ever need to head the ball in 5-a-side? Isn’t that game played almost entirely along the ground?

 

[Tubey]

It was in that piece you posted @Bruce Wayne

Offering padded helmets to players is not a solution, he said, since “when you put protective headgear on people and take away that pain sensation, people are more inclined to put their heads in the wrong place”.

It's why we feel pain, so as to no what to avoid.

You made your point perfectly with your first post regarding boxing. It's educated risk - as long as these players know what they're signing up for, then let them get on with it, just like boxing, MMA etc.

Hell, horse riding or a somersault in gymnastics or skateboarding might break your neck, nobody HAS to do these things but people still should have the choice to do it. It's called living.

 

[Nymzee]

Why would you ever need to head the ball in 5-a-side? Isn’t that game played almost entirely along the ground?

It doesn’t have to be.

 

[Woolverhampton_Blue]

It would alter the DNA of the game too adversely. I’m all for mitigation of the risks as much as possible, but beyond a certain point - especially for people who have chosen to do it professionally - it’s part of the game and if you don’t like the potential negatives nobody is forcing you to play.

 

[Old Blue 2]

Which has been proven to cause dementia, ergo, being able to head the ball with no protection is more important to you than the player's mental health.

I have yet to see the proof that heading a ball directly causes dementia. What HAS been shown is that footballers have developed dementia, and that footballers head balls. My mother-in-law gradually lapsed into dementia, and ended up completely out of everything. There must be millions who have suffered from dementia who have never played football in their life...