In a recent hearing in a coroner’s court in Wales, the cause of death of former Welsh
footballer, Keith Pontin, was discovered to be Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy after a post-mortem
examination was carried out.
Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy, commonly referred to as CTE, is a disease that causes neuronal
damage, and sometimes leads to death.
It is caused by “repeated trauma to the head”, and most cases of this disease have
been recorded in athletes, especially those involved in contact sports like football,
boxing, American football, MMA, wrestling, and the like.
People with CTE often develop problems with their thinking, mood, and behavioral patterns.
Normal symptoms are headaches, dizziness, sudden confusion, which usually develop into
memory loss and impulsive behavior.
In the final stage, people suffering from CTE can develop dementia, deafness, speech
impediments, vertigo, depression, and in some cases, it can even cause one to become suicidal.
Basically, CTE is a very dangerous disease which can and has claimed many lives.
And the demise of former Cardiff City defender, Keith Pontin, in 2020 proves that many professional
footballers are at risk of contracting and probably losing their lives to this disease.
For footballers, what’s the one thing that puts them at risk of this condition?
Headers!
Over the years, we have seen different footballers come out in bad condition after going in for
an aerial duel.
Some start bleeding on the spot.
Some are disoriented for some minutes due to being concussed.
Oh, by the way, statistics show that 22 percent of injuries in football these days are concussions.
That shows you how common they are.
Some require an ambulance to take them off the pitch like Ronald Araujo against Celta
Vigo.
Some crack their skulls like Petr Cech.
Some even nearly lose their lives on the spot, Raul Jimenez against Arsenal in 2020 being
a pretty recent example.
Now, these are the ones with immediate and obvious impacts.
What’s scary is that, sometimes, a player could win a clear header and feel perfectly
normal at that moment, but that could be contributing to their risk of suffering from CTE later
in life.
Remember we said this disease is caused by repeated trauma to the head.
That trauma could come from a goalkeeper accidentally landing a blow on a player’s head, a clash
of heads, or it could even come from a player just heading the ball with a considerable
amount of force.
Of course, one blow to the head is not enough to give a person CTE.
It has to be repeated trauma over time.
But then, in a, say, 10-year professional footballing career, you would think that the
average footballer can go in for enough headers to put him at risk of getting CTE.
Hell, research has even shown that just heading a ball up to 20 times may cause some damage
to the brain.
The study showed a 20 percent decline in brain functions, particularly the part of the brain
tasked with holding new information needed in the short term.
So, if this happens in the short term, it is not very surprising that, overtime, constant
heading of the ball can lead to dementia.
The weight of the ball – which is about half a kilogram – hitting a player’s head
at about 128 kilometers per hour multiple times could cause the brain to bounce around
in the skull and cause bruising.
Sadly, Keith Pontin is not even the first footballer to lose his life to this deadly
condition.
Jeff Astle, the West Brom legend whose image is at the gate of The Hawthorns, also passed
away as a result of CTE-related complications.
His brain disease was first discovered around 1997, and he later passed away in 2002.
Dr. Derek Robson, a consultant neuropathologist, said that the former West Brom striker had
a brain condition that was most likely worsened by his constant heading of a football.
It is not a coincidence that Astle was regarded as one of the best headers of the ball in
his day.
Dr. Robson said that the evidence of trauma that was found in Astle’s brain was similar
to the type of trauma found in the brains of professional boxers.
Now, the truth is, till today, there still isn’t a direct link between heading a football
and dementia, for example.
But a 2019 study by the University of Glasgow discovered that “retired professional footballers
are three and a half times more likely to die of dementia than people of the same age
range in the general population.”
More specifically, it was discovered that goalkeepers show the same level of risks as
the average person.
This makes sense as goalkeepers are hardly ever required to head the ball.
For outfield players, however, the risk is four times higher.
And 5 times higher for defenders in particular.
In addition to Pontin and Astle, there are more footballers who have suffered from brain-related
diseases.
Former Spurs captain, Danny Blanchflower, lost his life to Alzheimer’s back in 1993.
He was ruled as the “first British footballer to have died as a result of heading a football.”
There was also Mike Tindall who died in 2020 after a long battle with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
And then, the Manchester United legend, Sir Bobby Charlton who was diagnosed with dementia
in 2020.
Thankfully, though, he is still alive and here with us.
But this is a call to action.
A seemingly harmless act of heading a football is very dangerous and we are already seeing
the effects in retired footballers.
So, what are the football governing bodies doing about this issue?
In 2021, a charity match was organized in the UK to raise awareness about the issue.
Headers were banned during the game and were only allowed in the 18-yard box in the first
half of the game.
Before that, the English FA, Irish FA, and Scottish FA jointly declared that children
aged 11 and under will no longer be trained to head balls.
For older kids, they will begin to make heading the ball less and less of a priority.
There have also been new heading guidelines introduced to help footballers head the ball
more safely.
For example, they suggest that heading the ball after jumping from a standing position
is much safer than running onto the ball.
Also, heading the ball from a throw is much safer than heading when from a kick.
Anyway, what do you suggest?
How can the risk that headers expose footballers to be curtailed?
Should heading the ball be made a bookable offense during games?
How do you think it would affect the beautiful game?
Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
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Bye!