I know it has probably been covered but the information regarding dimentia and football points at a lot of ex pro's in their latter years.

Is there any comparisons which have been completed with the modern ball? 

3 minutes ago, Big E said:

I know it has probably been covered but the information regarding dimentia and football points at a lot of ex pro's in their latter years.

Is there any comparisons which have been completed with the modern ball? 

Alan Shearer did a documentary on it which was a bit inconclusive. They’re made of rubber now not leather so it would be difficult to gauge a true comparison for a good number of years. These new balls don’t retain water and dirt which made leather ones heavier. 
My mate coaches an under 8’s and they either don’t practice heading or use foam balls, for drills. 
 

Rudy - Call centre operative

9 minutes ago, Big E said:

I know it has probably been covered but the information regarding dimentia and football points at a lot of ex pro's in their latter years.

Is there any comparisons which have been completed with the modern ball? 

My mum had dementia and never headed a football in her life.

Thats because she played in goal.

28 minutes ago, Rudy said:

Alan Shearer did a documentary on it which was a bit inconclusive. They’re made of rubber now not leather so it would be difficult to gauge a true comparison for a good number of years. These new balls don’t retain water and dirt which made leather ones heavier. 
My mate coaches an under 8’s and they either don’t practice heading or use foam balls, for drills. 
 

Rudy - Cold Calling Call centre operative

😂

Theres a league it might be the Aussie league that doesn’t allow heading in games until professional 

Pulis would be fuming 

I played at a decent level for a very long time, central midfield & later full back. I could go whole seasons & not head the ball. I left that to the not-rights. It always fckg hurt. It's not stopped me being unable to remember last night's tea.

But as for banning heading, fine ... keep on changing the game out of a recognition.

 

.... &, like Fred's Dad, above, I'm damn certain heading the ball isn't the reason my mum ended up in a home unable to fasten her boots & convinced Sam Allardyce was a regular visitor. ... & corner taking was always shite.

As kids in the early 70s, we used to play with those lightweight plastic ones you'd get at the seaside, until occasionally someone would bring along a casey.  One year my brother turns up with an old style ball, leather, laces, bladder, the lot.  Christ on a bike, getting some power on it was difficult enough but heading it when it was wet? You didn't do it twice.  Get it dead centre on the forehead and it wasn't too bad, still hurt like but just about acceptable. If you had a 'ten bob yed' you were finishing the game with mild concussion. 

Apparently even though balls are lighter now they travel much faster so the force of the impact isn't much different. There is a Charity called Head for Change that are  looking in to all of this.

https://headforchange.org.uk/

It gives sky sports news something to chat shit about

34 minutes ago, Horwich said:

It gives sky sports news something to chat shit about

Makes a welcome change from women's "super" league at least 

Just now, stevieb said:

Makes a welcome change from women's "super" league at least 

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Terry Butcher has called for heading to be scrapped. 

I was very surprised to be honest, not sure it's ever going to go out fully, but there is also the risk of a similar situation starting to that in the states with brain injued players taking legal action.

1 hour ago, stevieb said:

Makes a welcome change from women's "super" league at least 

Talksport have told me Arsenal were pumped by Barcelona about 86 times this morning. Took me a while to work it out (due to the insistence on non separation) as I’m thinking it’s international break.

I finally worked it out when I realised Arsenal are shit and probably not in Europe 

Many footballers become household names so when one of them suffers from dementia it seems an easy guess that heading a heavy ball would be a contributing factor. What percentage of the many thousands of former pro footballers ends their life with dementia? Similarly, are their any stats for American football (padded up rugby) players? How about boxers? Again, the end of life for Mohammed Ali as a very public figure was one, how about the others? I reckon I’d rather spend a while heading a ball where, for the most part, you know it’s coming comparing to being a boxer where, the aim is to hit your opponent’s head when he often doesn’t know it’s coming.

It’s all about comparing numbers of footballers or any other impact sports compared with numbers of the general population.

Edited October 6, 20214 yr by MickyD

7 hours ago, Horwich said:

It gives sky sports news something to chat shit about

Good thing they don’t make money off showing boxing 

44 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Many footballers become household names so when one of them suffers from dementia it seems an easy guess that heading a heavy ball would be a contributing factor. What percentage of the many thousands of former pro footballers ends their life with dementia? Similarly, are their any stats for American football (padded up rugby) players? How about boxers? Again, the end of life for Mohammed Ali as a very public figure was one, how about the others? I reckon I’d rather spend a while heading a ball where, for the most part, you know it’s coming comparing to being a boxer where, the aim is to hit your opponent’s head when he often doesn’t know it’s coming.

It’s all about comparing numbers of footballers or any other impact sports compared with numbers of the general population.

Professional footballers (with the exception of goalkeepers) are up to four times more likely to develop dementia compared to the general population. For defenders, that rises to up to five times more likely.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/science/dementia-professional-footballers-glasgow-study-b1895217.html%3famp

I remember reading that repeated heading of footballs during training, day in, day out, was thought to be the chief cause, similar to how it's often sparring that cause neurodegenerative problems with boxers.

James Toney's training consisted of nothing but sparring for literally decades, and now he's in his fifties and can barely string a sentence together. Compare him to Roy Jones (similar age, same generation) and it's night and day.

51 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Many footballers become household names so when one of them suffers from dementia it seems an easy guess that heading a heavy ball would be a contributing factor. What percentage of the many thousands of former pro footballers ends their life with dementia? Similarly, are their any stats for American football (padded up rugby) players? How about boxers? Again, the end of life for Mohammed Ali as a very public figure was one, how about the others? I reckon I’d rather spend a while heading a ball where, for the most part, you know it’s coming comparing to being a boxer where, the aim is to hit your opponent’s head when he often doesn’t know it’s coming.

It’s all about comparing numbers of footballers or any other impact sports compared with numbers of the general population.

I think they've gone past the stage of looking purely at numbers/ratios and now started putting meat on the bones of theories. Bit like global warming, maybe time to look at any protective/preventative measures.

9 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

I played at a decent level for a very long time, central midfield & later full back. I could go whole seasons & not head the ball. I left that to the not-rights. It always fckg hurt. 

Heading a football hurts?

I played myself till 45 years old and i don't think i ever came across a player that refused to head a ball.

Wish i had tbh.

31 minutes ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Heading a football hurts?

I played myself till 45 years old and i don't think i ever came across a player that refused to head a ball.

Wish i had tbh.

I was shite at heading, and when I did, it always hurt.

Being diagnosed epileptic later in life perhaps explains it?

I dont believe it was caused by the occasional header, but maybe the discomfort when heading was connected to a condition I didn't know I had. 

Roger Hunt had a slightly younger brother (who's still alive) by maybe a couple of years or so, the younger brother developed dementia before Roger, both suffered from the same disease and the younger brother never played football at a competitive level.

2 hours ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Heading a football hurts?

I played myself till 45 years old and i don't think i ever came across a player that refused to head a ball.

Wish i had tbh.

Well, I didn't refuse exactly but I wasn't playing in a way that put me there. Central Midfield &, as I slowed down, Full Back aren't exactly header-central.

I scored 3 competitive headers that I can recall, out of a good 250 or more over 30 years.

Small headed passes & flicks were fine but full-on centre forward/centre half headers just didn't happen.

3 hours ago, Burndens Bogs said:

Heading a football hurts?

I played myself till 45 years old and i don't think i ever came across a player that refused to head a ball.

Wish i had tbh.

Eidur Gudjinson ducked under every long ball.

He'd head the one where he could score though.