When I started playing football I could see how the heading the balls used then could be dangerous over a long period of time. I think the risk is less now.
The weight of an official match ball has actually never been reduced. It was increased once, about a century ago. Clearly, the old balls did used to soak up water so they were heavier when it rained, but it wasn't permanently raining, so it's not really true that the old balls were heavier, not most of the time anyway.
Thanks Plum that all makes sense , I played and scored more goals with my head than feet , and in the late 60’s and the v.early 70’s they were heavy ( when wet) brown leather balls - the laces hurt!! Despite what others think I am not condoning head injury but over the last 10 years more players do protect themselves going shoulder first , BUT I think it’s more when there’s a fear of getting your mouth smashed . I hated jumping against somebody a bit smaller than me if they were back heading as their head was usually at my teeth level I’ve got stitches and a bend in my nose to prove it . LOL
I'm not a believer that someone heading a ball a few times during a football match, once a week and not every week of the year when they were younger causes dementia in later life. I recall a story an ex player told me after visiting a care home for the elderly where a couple of ex City players where staying. They were all sat around tables in the lounge discussing how heading the ball caused them to lose their memory, to which someone pointed to a group of old ladies sat around a similiar table also suffering from dementia and asked 'what team did they play for?' My old fella is in a care home now, recently admitted and he cannot walk which he now blames on playing football when he was younger, not the fact that he is 92 and his hips have gone. He probably spent more time dancing in pubs and clubs when he was drunk than he did playing for football, but no, it's because he played football once a week for four months of the year when he was in his in teens and early 20's. Also today's football's are nothing like the old leather, lace up one's of yesterday, Even I remember seeing stars the first time I headed the ball when playing for my school team and also how much those 'new no laces' plastic football's stung your thighs on a freezing cold February morning. It's all a part of the game of football. I'm not dismissing or trivialising dementia either, I have seen first hand how serious and soul destroying dementia is in the elderly but I dont think someone playing football when they were younger is the cause, maybe a factor in some cases, but not the cause. Back to the football. City are currently 5th in the Championship, our best start to a season at this level in the clubs history. So why is Cooper, and to a lesser extent Roseinor, continually nibbling away at 'the crowds frustration' in the local rag because City now try to play from the back? There cannot be that many frustrated fans because the crowds are the best they have been since we were in the Premier League. I recall many more frustrated fans, so frustrated that they stopped coming to game altogether, when we were getting beat every week.
Never heard any booing near us, E5, which seems to be a common experience. If, say, 200 were booing that's around 1% of Saturday's attendance. I'm fairly sure at some stage of his career Rosenior will hear a far higher percentage of fans booing, hopefully whatever club he's at will provide him with counseling. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
The rate of dementia in ex professional footballers is five times higher than in the general population, if you don't think that's down to them having played football, it's one hell of a coincidence.
There's definitely a correlation. I personally think we will see heading disappear out of the game in the next 10 years due to rule changes.
According to who? Convient 'facts' when someone is chasing compensasion. How do you account for the equal number of elderly females who suffer from it?
Its football Why is heading a thing Feet or nothing for me Then we can have 5ft 2 centrebacks Equality
Clearly nobody is claiming that football is the only cause of dementia, just that professional football significantly increases the chances of suffering from dementia in later life, it's pretty much universally accepted to be the case... Recognation (Health, Brain and Mind Experts) - https://recognitionhealth.com/why-are-footballers-at-increased-risk-of-developing-dementia/ The Alzheimers Society - https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/blog/football-heading-dementia-risk Alzheimers Research UK - https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.or...-work/position-statements/sport-and-dementia/ The FA - https://www.thefa.com/news/2023/jun...port states that,compared to 0.9% of controls.
Of course hitting something against your head thousands of times is not going to be good for the brain Humans are not woodpeckers
Just to add something my sister got Alzheimer’s / dementia at 49 and died 18 months or so later (20 years or so ago ) What if it turns out all that dodgy CJD meat was the cause ? I’ve no idea if that’s far fetched or not - like all diseases some are prone or unlucky or lead bad lifestyles anyway it’s a pleasure to watch City and it was most of the second half of last season we try and play football and look pretty effective at it and if we continue better results will come
What a poor anecdote. Because there are multiple causes for dementia there are no causes for dementia? Repeated physical trauma including heading a football, head on head collisions, and other related incidents all exacerbate dementia. It has been proven in numerous studies. There's a reason a number of sports are bringing in concussion related protocols.
You're seriously going with the 'just because non-footballers have dementia, football can't have anything to do with it' argument? To what end?
Whilst you're correct we are 7th for expected points based on xG per game. The Norwich and Bristol games had heavy amounts of xG against. Think Bristol City had something near 4.
