{"id":130085,"date":"2022-12-03T11:00:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/?p=130085"},"modified":"2022-12-02T17:06:23","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T17:06:23","slug":"no-more-heading-the-ball-the-health-hazards-of-the-beautiful-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/2022\/12\/03\/no-more-heading-the-ball-the-health-hazards-of-the-beautiful-game\/","title":{"rendered":"No more heading the ball: The health hazards of the beautiful game"},"content":{"rendered":"
Scottish football has introduced some of the most stringent guidelines in the world, setting a limit on the amount of time that a player can head the ball. But what are the links between heading and brain damage?<\/span><\/p>\n New guidelines have been implemented since the end of November. Professional footballers in Scotland are to be<\/span> banned from heading the ball in training the day before and the day after a game.<\/span><\/a> Clubs are also being told to limit the number of exercises that involve heading the ball to <\/span>“one session per week.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The introduction of these new guidelines was initiated following a conference at Glasgow University, revealing research that showed former footballers were <\/span>3.5 times more likely to die from brain disease and neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia.<\/span><\/a> The study does not explain the cause of the increased risk, but it does explicitly designate heading the ball, and subsequent head injury, as <\/span>\u2018contributory factors.\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The Scottish Football Association (SFA) had previously introduced guidelines limiting heading in <\/span>children\u2019s and youth football in 2020<\/span><\/a>\u00a0but expanded these to include professional and amateur clubs. Following consultation with <\/span>50 clubs<\/span><\/a> across the professional men\u2019s and women\u2019s games in Scotland, <\/span>70%<\/span><\/a> of people were supportive of introducing new measures to limit heading, and <\/span>64%<\/span><\/a> of professional players “believed heading should be limited in training.”<\/span><\/p>\n Scotland has always been very vocal in preventing any risks of brain injury or damage across all sports. It was the first country in the world to have a single set of <\/span>“concussion guidelines for all sports,” with the ‘If in doubt, sit them out\u2019 campaign.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Others soon followed after Scotland\u2019s initiative. FA in England introduced guidelines for clubs that limits players to ten <\/span>\u2018<\/span>high impact<\/span><\/a>\u2019 <\/span>headers a week during training.<\/span><\/p>\n