Heading

[Guest]

http://www.thefa.com/news/2020/feb/24/updated-heading-guidance-announcement-240220

 

Following the 2019 study into head injuries for footballers where it was found footballers were 3.5 times more likely to suffer from  dementia and 5 times more likely to suffer from Parkinson's the FA has brought in guidelines where heading the ball in practice is to be banned in primary school and gradually brought in through school age children whilst remaining a low priority skill.

 

May save lives but will it handicap British born and bred footballers from progressing in the game?

 

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

[foxile5]

My thought is this - 

 

If we banned all sports then all sports related injuries would stop.

 

I get it, nobody wants a risk of dementia hanging over their participation in a sport but, in some instances, those are the prices we pay. Long distance runners are more likely to have knee and leg injuries in later life. Golfers are likely to develop issues with their lumbar regions. If you're heading a horrifically hard leather ball then it's likely there will be brain injuries.

 

This research is curtailed by the fact that dementia is likelier to hit in the later stages of life, so footballers who have presented with dementia were playing with different tools to those playing at present. There's no long-term study in what happens to a brain through the regular heading of these types of balls - lightweight and softer shelled. 

 

 

[davieG]

50 minutes ago, FIF said:

http://www.thefa.com/news/2020/feb/24/updated-heading-guidance-announcement-240220

 

Following the 2019 study into head injuries for footballers where it was found footballers were 3.5 times more likely to suffer from  dementia and 5 times more likely to suffer from Parkinson's the FA has brought in guidelines where heading the ball in practice is to be banned in primary school and gradually brought in through school age children whilst remaining a low priority skill.

 

May save lives but will it handicap British born and bred footballers from progressing in the game?

 

Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

I think it's a good move and could actually lead to us producing players that are better with the ball at their feet.

 

Steve Walsh is very much for it and he knows all there is to know about heading and  is also involved in a training academy for kids.

[Alf Bentley]

On the one hand, although some of those stats probably refer to players from an age of heavier footballs and more physical play, it is responsible to minimise the risk to young, developing brains. The approach described seems like a good compromise as it reduces risk without eliminating heading from the game. Heading is surely a skill that can and will be learned from late teens, along with more complicated skills. How many players learn crucial heading skills at age 8, 12 or 15 that they couldn't learn a bit later?

 

Also, some aspects of heading could be learned earlier without risking young brains: training exercises could inculcate the ability to leap, time leaps, time runs & read the flight of crosses, even if physically heading a ball was learned at a later stage.

 

On the other hand, heading did give us our greatest ever comedy record..... 

 

 

 

[The Horse's Mouth]

It's on your head son not off your head son 

[Nick]

By 2035 they’ll be no heading in the game at all.

[Guest MattP]

Seems a bit strange given how soft the balls are now, not surprised it was a problem though with the balls used before the 70/80's.

 

Surely we don't know the long term damage of heading the current ones?

[Bobby Hundreds]

7 minutes ago, MattP said:

Seems a bit strange given how soft the balls are now, not surprised it was a problem though with the balls used before the 70/80's.

 

Surely we don't know the long term damage of heading the current ones?

Modern day balls have the same starting dry weight as balls back in the 1930s, modern balls don't gain weight through moisture absorption however.

 

Stirling Uni found that even heading today's footballs elicits an acute change in brain function. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(16)30490-X/fulltext

[Guest]

Seems to me protecting kids is a good move, as was said above it doesn't stop adults/young adults from learning how to head properly. 

 

As for the weight of the ball I'm not sure there's a great difference after all the speed of the ball is faster now. Velocity*weight = Damage.

[KrefelderFox666]

2 hours ago, Swan Lesta said:

By 2035 they’ll be no heading in the game at all.

No overhead height, goals are lowered

[spacemunky]

I remember waaaay back when in phys-ed class we'd always end up using this water logged dirty old ball. It wasn't much fun even kicking it, let alone heading it. Mostly no one could get that old rock off the ground anyway 

[bmt]

Good idea, don't think it will impact development much either. Heading should never be prioritised at a young age anyway, it's not a very technical skill compared to passing etc.