LONDON (AP) — Earning a place in a Premier League club’s academy offers an irresistible path to fame, glory and riches. However, parents are increasingly aware of the potential risks to their children’s health.
At Manchester City, providing reassurance and trying to allay concerns about any long-term brain damage caused by blows to the head now starts well before a professional contract is offered.
“When we have young players from the academy – and we’re talking 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old – we bring the parents in and talk to them about it,” City club doctor Matthew Brown said. , to the Associated Press. “Concussion is a major problem. »
Last week, Irish striker Kevin Doyle retired from football after complaining of repeated headaches from heading the ball and concussions while playing for the Colorado Rapids in the Major League Soccer in recent months. It was a preventative measure taken by the 34-year-old former Premier League player to try to avoid permanent damage.
Doctors have yet to verify definitive links between brain impacts and early-onset dementia in footballers, and Ireland assistant coach Roy Keane was dismissive of Doyle’s concerns on Tuesday.
“If you’re worried about the physical aspect of a sport, then play chess,” Keane said. “It’s part of the game, players get injured. (Doyle) is a center forward and he gets some hits from the center backs. I’m sure he handed out a few himself.
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A notoriously tough midfielder during his playing career at Manchester United and Ireland, Keane attempts to protect the physical side of the game. Governing bodies realize, however, that they cannot remain indifferent if football is to blame. causes retired players to suffer from degenerative brain diseases.
In a study published earlier this year, six of 14 former players showed signs of Alzheimer’s disease after their brains underwent an autopsy. The Football Association and the English Professional Footballers’ Association are stepping up their research, and the way Alzheimer’s disease or memory loss affected several members of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team has come into focus. the need to investigate.
Geoff Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in England’s 4-2 victory over West Germany in the 1966 final, will launch an Alzheimer’s Society walk next week to raise awareness.
“Dementia is becoming one of the most serious diseases and it is increasing,” Hurst said. “My involvement with players on my team who have it is seeing how families deal with it all, and it’s arguably one of the most debilitating things that families can face.”
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Hurst believes Martin Peters, the other goalscorer at Wembley 51 years ago, would no longer recognize him.
“If you have a physical illness or a broken leg, you can recover from it and get better over time,” Hurst said. “With dementia it only goes one way, although at different levels.”
This is why families of beginning players are starting to become aware of the risks. Manchester City’s medical team are telling parents of academy participants that the style of play championed throughout the club by first-team manager Pep Guardiola – keeping the ball on the ground – is not just aesthetic. It’s also safer, according to the town doctor.
“At Manchester City we have a football philosophy, we play beautiful football,” Brown said. “There’s not a lot of cap. I’m not going to say that there is never a title, because obviously there is.
“When I talk to the parents of these young children about concussions and their possible concerns and the hypothetical risk of links to dementia at an early age, I tell them ‘as a club we are doing everything we can to limit direct, (and) diagnose, assess, manage and rehabilitate head injuries.
In 2015, the U.S. Soccer Federation recommended banning headers for players 10 and under to address concerns about the impact of head injuries. The United States also saw a billion-dollar settlement between the NFL and thousands of former American football players who were diagnosed with brain injuries linked to repeated concussions.
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“I don’t think we’re going to change the rules of football because of this situation,” Brown said. “Obviously there have been some high-profile reports of former professional players having dementia. But we’ve done a little bit of work with experts across the country and they’ve said at the moment there’s no no exact link between heading the ball and concussion or chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
”In the future, will they ever prove a link? I don’t know. I think there are so many variables, there really is. So all we can do is just reduce the risk to the player.
The family of former England striker Jeff Astle, whose death aged 59 in 2002 was attributed to repeated heavy leather balls, have pushed for better protection for modern players. The Astle family’s priority has been to convince football to recognize that the problem exists.
“It is very encouraging to see that, for the most part, football is starting to take the issue of concussion seriously and that, alongside more research, a cultural shift is starting to happen,” said Peter McCabe, director General of Headway Brain. Injury Association, said in response to Keane’s comments during Ireland’s training camp. “It is essential that we continue to conduct more research into the potential long-term implications of footballs to ensure people are able to make informed choices.”
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Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports
