Heading out campaign aims to ban football headers by 2030

Heading Out has been formed by dementia campaigner, author and former journalist Mike Edwards, and will lobby the game’s authorities to eliminate the practice.

Mr Edwards said he had secured meetings with some of the game’s top officials, among them UEFA’s medical director, to discuss the group’s aims.

The SFA (Scottish Football Association) says it is at the forefront of head trauma safety, globally.

In 2020, the SFA introduced a ban on children under the age of 12 from heading balls in training, making Scotland the first European country to do so and has also introduced guidelines for older teenagers.

However campaigners want this to be taken further with an outright ban.

Gail Pirie said, ‘We as a family have no doubt that dad’s Alzheimer’s was caused by repeated heading the ball and it must be stopped to protect future players.’

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Amanda Kopel added: ‘The game has a duty of care to players. I wouldn’t wish what Frank went through on my worst enemy and the rules have to change."

Heading Out will echo the findings of recent Scottish academic studies which revealed that footballers are three-a-half times more likely to receive a diagnosis of a neuropathological disease like dementia and five times more likely if they were a defender.

Consultant neuropathologist, Dr Willie Stewart, who is leading the ongoing  University of  Glasgow reasearch has said that heading footballs should be eliminated from football to protect players, at all levels, from developing dementia and other degenerative diseases.

He has also suggested that footballs should be sold with a health warning.

He said: "We can stop this now and to do that we have to reduce, if not eliminate, unnecessary head impacts.

READ MORE: Brain injury expert says football dementia risk 'phenomenal'

"Is heading absolutely necessary for football to continue? Or to put it another way: is exposure to the risk of dementia necessary for football?

"I've yet to see any evidence that heading a ball is good for you. Football is great for you, there is less cancer and cardiovascular problems for players, but there are dreadful levels of dementia and I can't see the benefit of that."

His research also found that forwards were three times as likely to develop dementia, while the risk to goalkeepers was almost non-existent when compared with the general population.

Another study published in July by the Journal of the American Medical Association, evaluated the cognitive impairment of more than 450 retired professional men's soccer players in the UK and how often they headed the ball during their playing careers.

The researchers found that "the risk of cognitive impairment increased with the cumulative heading frequency."

Past research indicated that female soccer players are considerably more likely to experience concussions and other brain injuries than their male counterparts.

Some women in the World Cup played wearing a Q-Collar, a horseshoe-shaped piece of silicone designed to protect the brain from the inside.

Mr Edwards, who retired from his journalism career to care for his elderly mother Margaret after her dementia diagnosis said: "Heading the ball is a slow but steady killer and has to be removed from the game.

"We learn from an early age not to handle the ball, surely we can learn not to head it either.

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‘Scotland has led the way by banning children from heading the ball in training and adult players from heading in the 24 hours before and after a game.

"I’d like to see the practice banned altogether after the 2030 World Cup, which I think is a reasonable deadline. Not heading the ball will save players’ lives."

The campaign is also supported by NHS Consultant, Dr Michael Crawford, whose father Bobby is living with a diagnosis of dementia after a career playing as a defender in the Scottish Junior leagues.

He said, ‘It’s beyond dispute now that heading the ball causes CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) otherwise known as a brain injury and it’s causing problems for players in later life.

"Sometimes my dad played three games on a Saturday and headed the ball a lot. His dementia diagnosis reflects that all too clearly.’

The campaign is likely to face opposition from those who believe headers are an integral part of the game.

Martyn O'Neill, son of Celtic legend Billy McNeill, who died after a battle with Alzheimer's Disease, said he was in favour of additional safeguards but not removing headers.

He said: "It's a big part of football.

"The medical back-up is completely different to when my dad played."

Heading Out is being funded by sales of ‘You’re Seeing It!’ Mike Edward's third book, which is on sale now.