Heading a football can cause brain injury but which players have been hit hardest?

Doc Lynam · Jun 11, 2013

Latest MRI scans seems to suggest heading the ball repetitively can leave you with brain damage.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/heading-football-leaves-brain-injured-175237728.html#9gXnGJJ

But which footballers have suffered most from, to much heading makes you thick?

TSB · Jun 11, 2013

Buckley got hit in the face 45 seconds before scoring a creamer against Blackpool. Maybe brain damage helps footballers.

Goldstone Rapper · Jun 11, 2013

Probably the players in the 1950s and before when it rained and added weight to the leather ball, not to mention the danger posed by the laces of the ball...

Doc Lynam · Jun 11, 2013

"Leeds is a great club and it's been my home for years, even though I live in Middlesborough."
Jonathan Woodgate

Thunder Bolt · Jun 11, 2013

Jeff Astle died aged 59 which was proved to be from a degenerative brain disease from damage from heading the ball. That was when footballs were heavy leather.

Doc Lynam · Jun 11, 2013

Thunder Bolt said:
Jeff Astle died aged 59 which was proved to be from a degenerative brain disease from damage from heading the ball. That was when footballs were heavy leather.

Proven?

Doc Lynam · Jun 11, 2013

"That's football, Mike, Northern Ireland have had several chances and haven't scored but England have had no chances and scored twice."
Trevor Brooking

Goldstone Rapper · Jun 11, 2013

Heading a football can cause brain injury but which players have been hit har...

Doc Lynam said:
"That's football, Mike, Northern Ireland have had several chances and haven't scored but England have had no chances and scored twice."
Trevor Brooking

The 1980 FA Cup Final was the only time he ever headed the ball.

beorhthelm · Jun 11, 2013

i would say this is utter bollocks. defenders, who tend to head the ball most with the greated velocity/energy, tend to also be tactically astute and intelligent. (even if you might not like some).

Doc Lynam · Jun 11, 2013

beorhthelm said:
i would say this is utter bollocks. defenders, who tend to head the ball most with the greated velocity/energy, tend to also be tactically astute and intelligent. (even if you might not like some).

Intelligence is one aspect of the brain not the crucial area in this case, it seems to be more based on memory.

Pevenseagull · Jun 11, 2013

If professional footballers were not stupid to begin with they could have trained to be brain surgeons and earned over £100,000 a year.

JamesAndTheGiantHead · Jun 11, 2013

Central Defender and frequent head-ball touching superstar is John Terry, who constantly forgets whose wife belongs to who.

Doc Lynam · Jun 11, 2013

JamesAndTheGiantHead said:
Central Defender and frequent head-ball touching superstar is John Terry, who constantly forgets whose wife belongs to who.

Boom

seagullsovergrimsby · Jun 12, 2013

Doc Lynam said:
Proven?

The coroner's verdict was that he died from an industrial disease. He had a brain scan a year before he died which revealed injury to the front of the brain which had softened and shrunk alongside trauma to the brain similar to what a boxer would experience. Heading the old fashioned leather balls had the same effect as being punched in the head by someone wearing boxing gloves

otk · Jun 12, 2013

Doc Lynam said:
Latest MRI scans seems to suggest heading the ball repetitively can leave you with brain damage.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/heading-football-leaves-brain-injured-175237728.html#9gXnGJJ

But which footballers have suffered most from, too much heading makes you thick?

I saw this a few years ago, in that ex-centre-halves were found to be 5% dimmer than midfielders in intelligence tests. Anyone who has played footy would have to agree that centre-halves usually start (and end) their careers 5% dimmer than midfielders :ohmy:

Mellotron · Jun 12, 2013

Definitely not Liam Dickinson, that's for sure.

Buzzer · Jun 12, 2013

I'm hoping someone like Hiney can help me out here but I definitely recall an article in one of the club programmes from around 2006 where they did an article on a Brighton player who scored from something like a 30 yard header. That's not what stuck with me though - it was that in one match he went up for a challenge and clashed heads with an opposition player who died from injuries sustained. The article went on to say that our player then lost his appetite for the game after that.

Can anyone shed any further light? Any of our older fans recall the player?

Edit - worst header of a ball I've ever seen at our club - has to be Bruno, Appalling technique.

Gafones · Jun 12, 2013

Buzzer · Jun 12, 2013

And the worst clash of heads I've ever seen was watching the West Brom v Ipswich FA Cup semi final on telly in 1978 as a nipper when Wile and Talbot collided. Look at this. He played on like that too.

Buzzer · Jun 12, 2013

beorhthelm said:
i would say this is utter bollocks. defenders, who tend to head the ball most with the greated velocity/energy, tend to also be tactically astute and intelligent. (even if you might not like some).

Agreed. Half the headers won by Guy Butters, he never jumped. It was all about body position and timing the header. That bloke was a black belt in the art of heading.

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Heading a football can cause brain injury but which players have been hit hardest?

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