Phasing out Heading from Football - Yay or Nay?

[Bruce Wayne]

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...

The link in one of my first posts provided the evidence. Defenders are five times as likely as an average person.

 

[CharliePotato]

Compulsory protective headgear first, imo.

Could understand it for kids though, when brains are extra squishy and whatnot.

Get a grip.

 

[CharliePotato]

Soccer is going through an identity crisis a bit I think. They clamped down on “simulation”, the fact they have to do that is worrying. Getting rid of heading changes the entire game. It would be the end for me. And Stoke

If they ban heading, which they have already done with 50/50s the games over and all these mushrooms who have sided with it are to blame.

Get your full kits on and go an play fifa in your mums box rooms you melts.

 

[Zezti]

Get a grip.

If they ban heading, which they have already done with 50/50s the games over and all these mushrooms who have sided with it are to blame.

Get your full kits on and go an play fifa in your mums box rooms you melts.

Calm down sweetheart. The aim here is to avoid horrible brain disease. No need to call people names over it.

 

[Tipp blue]

Corners will be interesting.

 

[Old Blue 2]

The link in one of my first posts provided the evidence. Defenders are five times as likely as an average person.

I do not believe you can attribute a particular ailment definitely to an action that occurred decades previously.

It is ludicrous to say that a definitive link has been 100% proven. On a regular, ongoing, basis. In the case of millions who play football from a young age onwards. That kind of premise is fatally flawed from the outset...

 

[Papa Shango]

Worlds gone daft.

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

I'm sure I read something recently which disproved this and there is no real weight difference between balls of today and the olden days.

It would be the death of football as we know it but it is a "thing" too. I am all for discussions about the problem but don't really see a solution to it that would work.

 

[summerisle]

I'm sure I read something recently which disproved this and there is no real weight difference between balls of today and the olden days.

It would be the death of football as we know it but it is a "thing" too. I am all for discussions about the problem but don't really see a solution to it that would work.

Your right, no difference in weight when dry. It was when it was wet it was estimated to double in weight. Leather on football's wasn't phased out completely until the 1980s.

An Enduring Football Myth: The Weight of the Ball – More Than Mind Games

www.morethanmindgames.com

 

[ToffeeM4n]

Corners will be interesting.

3 corners- penalty, obv

 

[WA Toffee]

Im sure footballers have issues with their knees and feet as they get older also, lets ban kicking the football as well.

"I'm sure" isn't quite the same as peer reviewed journals detailing risks though. And brain injuries are quite different to foot injuries.

I'm not for getting rid of heading, someone mentioned before that all the research would have been done on players who headed very heavy balls compared to the balloons they use now, so some improvements have already been made, albeit for different reasons. If further steps were mandated, I would prefer it to be helmets rather than abolition altogether and see how things are then

 

[WA Toffee]

I do not believe you can attribute a particular ailment definitely to an action that occurred decades previously.

It is ludicrous to say that a definitive link has been 100% proven. On a regular, ongoing, basis. In the case of millions who play football from a young age onwards. That kind of premise is fatally flawed from the outset...

Maybe you should read some of the research, because what you are arguing against is not what the research is claiming

 

[CharliePotato]

Calm down sweetheart. The aim here is to avoid horrible brain disease. No need to call people names over it.

Stop punches to the head in boxing aswel then.

 

[Old Blue 2]

Maybe you should read some of the research, because what you are arguing against is not what the research is claiming

Tell me how my heading a ball when I was playing for the school, and then playing Sunday League in the 1960s and 1970s, will have ultimately led DIRECTLY to me developing dementia at some future date, and I will then concede the point to you and Bruce W. The fact is, it CANNOT be done. People simply want the one to lead to the other. There is no logical premise that can be advanced that can positively prove the one with the other.

The fact is, having also played rugby at school for four years (scrum half), the likelihood of playing THAT game, with its attendant being clobbered time and time again by opposition forwards over 4 years, has a far greater causal chance of contributing ultimately to brain damage/deterioration than heading a football occasionally...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

This feels perhaps a pertinent comment from the academic behind the Glasgow research that showed that footballers were 5x more likely to get dementia than average Joes

“The really important point to make,” says Dr Stewart, “is that playing football is still extremely beneficial for your heart and lungs, so we don’t want to discourage anyone from taking part. It’s just that there’s this major issue of dementia that we need to fix. Going back to the ‘40s and ‘50s, schools used to have boxing on the curriculum, and we think that’s a crazy idea now.”

By all means, knock yourself out with the paper @Old Blue 2

Field Position, Career Length, and Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease in Male Former Professional Soccer Players

This cohort study investigates the association of field position, professional career length, and playing era with risk of neurodegenerative disease among Scottish male former professional soccer players.

jamanetwork.com

 

[Old Blue 2]

This feels perhaps a pertinent comment from the academic behind the Glasgow research that showed that footballers were 5x more likely to get dementia than average Joes


By all means, knock yourself out with the paper @Old Blue 2

Field Position, Career Length, and Risk of Neurodegenerative Disease in Male Former Professional Soccer Players

This cohort study investigates the association of field position, professional career length, and playing era with risk of neurodegenerative disease among Scottish male former professional soccer players.

jamanetwork.com

Do you expect a 'flat-line' across the whole of society? In everything? What is the comparison with boxing? With rugby? The same? Different?

Comparisons will always show differences. Because nothing in life is uniform...

Jeez...