Funnily enough, the dry weight of a football hasn’t changed since 1937 when it was specified as 14-16oz. Prior to that, the rules specified something lighter i.e. 13-15oz.
The problem arose when the old leather ball got wet; it absorbed water and got heavier, and heavier, no matter how much dubbin you applied, until it was more akin to a medicine ball.
Nowadays balls are made from materials that are more resistant to water absorption, so they don’t gain weight when wet.
I don’t know how this might factor in determining the risk of dementia.
The most detailed study into the risk of dementia in former professional footballers (University of Glasgow) examined the causes of death of 7,676 former Scottish male professional football players who were born between 1900 and 1976.
So many of these players would have only known the old leather ball for all / a significant proportion of their playing careers.
Former professional footballers had an approximately 3.5 times higher rate of death due to neurodegenerative disease, but were less likely to die of diseases such as heart disease and some cancers.
I proposed changing the football to a balloon, surely that will not only make it safer to head and it would make it so much harder to score and justify why Haaland is worth 200mil if he can still score 30 goals with a balloon.
The incidence of dementia in ex footballers or boxers in relation to the remainder of society?
And then factor the number of ex amateur Sunday league footballers in the main cohort.
Also, as stated, factor smoking amd alcohol consumption into the statistics.
When all the relevant information is condensed, ask if it was an equipment issue in the past.
Is impact of a new ball significantly different to the old laced ball?
Then decide if modern footballers are at serious risk, as an occupational hazard, any more than a window cleaner falling, or a painter inhaling fumes. Or a painter playing Sunday league.
Then realise heading the ball is an integral part of football. And if you produce compelling evidence that heading is a large cause dementia, then ban it.
But let the research work. Prove beyond doubt.
Or let people play and enjoy a skill that few can really master.
I definitely think alcohol consumption and smoking play a part in this.
There was a drinking culture in English football right up until the 90s and early 00 even, so no doubt the boys back in the 60s, 70s and 80s put a few bevvies away too, and smoking was much more a norm in sports back then compared to now.
That being said I think everybody agrees that those footballs when they got wet we’re horrible to head. Doing that repeatedly couldn’t have helped.
Bit before my time but willing to believe those that lived during that era
I was suprised to read just how much David James was smoking well into his career. I don’t think I could do half as much exercise as I currently manage if I was smoking as much as I used to, and that was way less than him.
I think it’s a bit different for a goalkeeper compared to a winger for example but ye I agree it’s crazy that anybody playing professional sport can smoke and still perform at that level
One of the key insights we got from the American football data that is still typically overlooked is that the risk doesnt really come from clattering impacts, but from really high frequency small contacts. When you look at the D vs O line impacts at the line of scrimmage with every snap, it’s these impacts more than the big hits that seems to add up to trouble. These are impacts that over the course of a week they may experience 1000 times or more. That has to have implications for CBs heading the ball.
American footballers wearing protective gear, including headgear?
I understand the higher volume of lower impact hits been a bit more damaging as the athletes will be prepared for bigger hits. I wonder how the data relates to actual dementia studies though, like if there is a direct correlation.
This is gaining momentum in rugby now and really blowing up.
Wales vs New Zealand at the weekend had a sin bin ( yellow card) incident in the game for a tackle that resulted in a head impact. There’s a growing consensus that players need to adjust and simply not make contact with the head even if the player is stooping down low. If that means conceding ground or even pulling out of the tackle so be it. Its going to take a huge amount to adjust to it but it feels right. it might actually help the flow of the game in some ways.
My cousin broke his neck playing Rugby League in the 1970s from a high tackle he lived for a while but was in a hospital for the rest of his short life afterwards.
I would say this is far worse even if I’m wary of heading in football. You’re not going break your neck heading a ball.
It’s why I never played Rugby at school, my dad wrote a note and to be fair the school accepted it, it was only two weeks of the PE calendar anyway as when given the choice as we did the comprehensive kids are always going choose football.
Horrible and really sorry to hear that. Not heard of many of those issues in rugby league. Certainly a few in Rugby Union with collapsed scrums.
It is a fantastic sport both league and union, but brutally hard. I loved my time playing it, especially playing at a semi decent level. Notable how the impacts increased as the quality of the game got higher though. We’re clearly not designed for it.
What gets me is what seems to be complete apathy on the part of the football authorities to this. There is so much they can do, and implement that doesn’t change anything in the game right now. But they dont. Head injury assessments for example. Someone takes a knock in a collision for example you go off and get assessed. You’re allowed to bring a player on while they are off. Fail the assessment the substitution becomes permanent.
There is surely a huge difference between consciously heading a football and taking physical hits to the head, whether accidentally or maliciously?
I am not sure if that is relevant to the conversation about heading the ball in football, as it confuses the issues somewhat.
I am aware of head injuries in sport and the links to dementia, though I think the debate on headers is fundamentally different.
I think it was mentioned earlier that the number of players diagnosed with dementia may have played when the heavier ball was in use. Also, there doesn’t seem to be stats for percentage of dementia sufferers in football versus the remainder of society. Another unexplained factor is any linkage to alcohol usage in the footballers diagnosed with dementia?
Dementia is a huge concern to me, as I have witnessed first hand the devastation it visits on sufferers and their families. I harbour dreadful fears of dementia.
And I played football for many years albeit at a grassroots level. And I headed balls at central defender at least half a dozen times every match I played.
I think empirical evidence on modern footballers and dementia cannot be accurately assessed today, it is in a few years time a correlation can be made with general society.
I posted this because rugby is one sport that is taking this very seriously. There are also lawsuits happening by players that are suffering early onset of dementia. The game is making efforts to change behaviour and the rules to stop or even reduce the massive impacts there.
Football? Not a sausage, which is reminiscent of the VAR thing where football thought it could do things better, ignored the methods used in other sports and doing its own thing, and it bombed. It was also years late in implementing it. I’m not saying that there’s a universal solution between all sports. Football will need it’s own way of dealing with it but there are a heap of common sense things that could be done now.
Happened long before I was born but I don’t think it ever left my dad as his sister was more like his mum (who he had lost at an early age) so he was a bit more like a brother to my dad.
I think he would wince at some of the goalkeeping I’ve done but yeah it wasn’t something that bothered me.
Getting out of any sport I didn’t enjoy was always an aim for me, randomly I had three loves football, softball and that quick cricket. I didn’t mind hockey but I’ve worn ankle protection ever since