[Devongone]

Sorry as I feel for those former players who have developed dementia and the families who care for them, I can't help but reflect on the huge difference between the experience of a man like Jeff Astle and the young players of today. Jeff died at 59 in 2002, so had he lived he'd be 77, making him ten years older than me. That guarantees that the ball Jeff was heading as a boy …… when his brain was still growing by the way …. would have been at least as heavy and difficult to manoeuvre as the footballs I was brought up with.

My early experience was all at centre half. I didn't get a choice. I was the tallest AND I wasn't afraid to head the ball. Quite a lot of lads were scared of heading the ball, even some who were otherwise pretty decent players. That was because the old leather case ball was very heavy at kick off. In wet or muddy conditions it became sodden and not only was difficult to head, but also you had to be able to kick properly to lift it off the grass. Taking a corner or a goal kick would often be down to the kid who could actually get the heavy ball into the air.

In practice matches during Games for the school team's squad at grammar school I can remember the opposition goalie repeatedly kicking the ball from his hands (because that was one of the quickest ways to progress downfield with the old ball). He did well to get it far beyond the halfway line and at centre half I was the one positioned to prevent the attack by winning the header. Some afternoons I headed that soggy ball loads of times, eyes open as I attempted not to head the lace which had the capacity to cut you.

I eventually achieved my ambition and got to play in goal in my dad's mens' team. I also played rugby for the school. Whatever damage that repetitive heading did to me, it did up to the age of 15 …….. but for a Jeff Astle and loads of other lads it went on into the professional game. And if like Jeff you were known to be excellent at it you were expected to do it more and more. Like me he was around to see the end of the heavy leather ball …….. but unless you experienced what those old balls were like it is very difficult to compare those times with modern day football. In those days you'd never have wanted your keeper to kick the ball off the floor if he could get it in his hands. With the ball in hand he could either kick further or use a judicious throw out to start an attack. Poorer pitches meant that with that soggy heavy ball today's rules would have led to a hatful of goals coming from earthbound keeper clearances.

So taking into account improved pitches and balls that now bounce swerve and spin ……. which you can actually float into the area if you want …… I find it difficult to understand why we seem to be moving towards erasing heading from the game. If young players are to be prevented from heading the ball up to a certain age what happens to the skill? How, once they are older, does the heading they now can't do very well and have been trained to fear, become part of their skillset and part of an exciting game? Is the game destined to be played on the floor? Should perhaps the goals be changed to match this new earthbound sport?

I ask because I don't know. I do, however, know that those who are the same age as me will ALL have experienced the same ball as I did during my youth. I am sure the prevalence of dementia amongst ex-players must have something to do with heading the ball. But surely proper science must evaluate the vast difference between the old and new ball AND the way that difference has changed the game itself.

[spireitematt]

Sorry as I feel for those former players who have developed dementia and the families who care for them, I can't help but reflect on the huge difference between the experience of a man like Jeff Astle and the young players of today. Jeff died at 59 in 2002, so had he lived he'd be 77, making him ten years older than me. That guarantees that the ball Jeff was heading as a boy …… when his brain was still growing by the way …. would have been at least as heavy and difficult to manoeuvre as the footballs I was brought up with.

My early experience was all at centre half. I didn't get a choice. I was the tallest AND I wasn't afraid to head the ball. Quite a lot of lads were scared of heading the ball, even some who were otherwise pretty decent players. That was because the old leather case ball was very heavy at kick off. In wet or muddy conditions it became sodden and not only was difficult to head, but also you had to be able to kick properly to lift it off the grass. Taking a corner or a goal kick would often be down to the kid who could actually get the heavy ball into the air.

In practice matches during Games for the school team's squad at grammar school I can remember the opposition goalie repeatedly kicking the ball from his hands (because that was one of the quickest ways to progress downfield with the old ball). He did well to get it far beyond the halfway line and at centre half I was the one positioned to prevent the attack by winning the header. Some afternoons I headed that soggy ball loads of times, eyes open as I attempted not to head the lace which had the capacity to cut you.

I eventually achieved my ambition and got to play in goal in my dad's mens' team. I also played rugby for the school. Whatever damage that repetitive heading did to me, it did up to the age of 15 …….. but for a Jeff Astle and loads of other lads it went on into the professional game. And if like Jeff you were known to be excellent at it you were expected to do it more and more. Like me he was around to see the end of the heavy leather ball …….. but unless you experienced what those old balls were like it is very difficult to compare those times with modern day football. In those days you'd never have wanted your keeper to kick the ball off the floor if he could get it in his hands. With the ball in hand he could either kick further or use a judicious throw out to start an attack. Poorer pitches meant that with that soggy heavy ball today's rules would have led to a hatful of goals coming from earthbound keeper clearances.

So taking into account improved pitches and balls that now bounce swerve and spin ……. which you can actually float into the area if you want …… I find it difficult to understand why we seem to be moving towards erasing heading from the game. If young players are to be prevented from heading the ball up to a certain age what happens to the skill? How, once they are older, does the heading they now can't do very well and have been trained to fear, become part of their skillset and part of an exciting game? Is the game destined to be played on the floor? Should perhaps the goals be changed to match this new earthbound sport?

I ask because I don't know. I do, however, know that those who are the same age as me will ALL have experienced the same ball as I did during my youth. I am sure the prevalence of dementia amongst ex-players must have something to do with heading the ball. But surely proper science must evaluate the vast difference between the old and new ball AND the way that difference has changed the game itself.

I watched a documentary which Alan Shearer did on this subject, It sounds like heading a football in general could affect the brain but I think the evidence is still inconclusive. Any blows to the head are dangerous. In rugby they have a problem with tackling and the way some players tackle other's as they may knock there head when they go in for a tackle. In American football they don't tackle properly and pretty much just charge at players at full speed and knock them over.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Its a difficult one which I assume only time will tell. I too can remember the old Caseys and had many a scar on my forehead from heading against the laces.
It was even worse if the ball was wet and/or under inflated. You could easily knock yourself out or feel very dizzy. I was very tall even when I was young so was a shoe in for centre forward.
Todays balls are so much lighter and dont absorb water so I would have thought heading them was much safer than in years gone by.
Not sure exactly when the old leather balls finished but it was too late for the likes of Astle and Moss.

[Lord Snooty]

I'm no scientist but.... surely the increase in dementia is connected to the fact that people are living longer because fewer people smoke or drink to excess.
It may well be down to the constant blows to the head received from heavy balls. But if it is, how come all aged ex boxers are not all gibbering wrecks?

[Devongone]

I think blows to the head must have an effect, but the brain is obviously complex and the changing history of the game and the way it is played can only multiply those complexities. I too watched the Alan Shearer documentary, which, whilst informative, left the issue as foggy as my brain.

Has anyone compared the rate at which professional goalkeepers end up with dementia compared to outfield players? Obviously keepers don't spend as long heading the ball, but they do experience much the same training and lifestyle as outfield players.

Similarly as Snoots suggests though some old boxers are borderline gaga others seem to age fairly normally other than a crumpled look around the visage ….

Apparently youngsters may not be allowed to tackle at rugby for safety reasons ……. but what happens later on to the adult game when it is full of testosterone-filled young blokes tackling each other without the background of junior years' of being taught to do it properly? If you get your head in the right place you can bring down Billy Vunipola without getting hurt, but if you don't do it right tackling Warwick Davies could be a problem.

Dancing's quite right. If you didn't head that old ball just right it could really hurt you and you knew it at the time, not 45 years on. Not only could the laces cut you, but also if you mistimed it the ball juddered onto your head compressing it down into your neck …. and your neck into your shoulders. You were immediately genuinely groggy. Seeing stars was normal and what we did was shake our heads and carry on.

Back in those days life for a boy growing up was very different from today. Now you rarely see kids out playing football. Between the ages of say 7 and 14 you never saw me very far from a football. There were always informal games and kick abouts on any green space. Yes for sure we often used light plastic balls, but if a game became serious someone would produce a casey. Back then we played far more than a budding starlet today. Jeff Astle must have had the same experience, who is to tell whether what happened to him stemmed from the professional game or a childhood of school games, break time games, games on the local green, kick ins …….. ?

Much as scientists will produce evidence to support further funding for their research I can't help but wonder whether with so many variables and much of the evidence already unreliably consigned to history, how they believe they can help children starting out today to enjoy a game we certainly loved at their time of life. Technology and the conditions under which sports are played change everything. Fred Perry would hardly return a ball from Andy Murray would he? Well being dead would be a severe disadvantage ,,,,,,

And imagine doing that school cross-country in Nike Vaporflys? Mind you at our school you'd probably have got the slipper on suspicion of having taken a short cut.