Heading in football: Steve Howey and Gary Pallister on health fears
Howie, a former defender for Manchester City and Newcastle, noticed that he sometimes struggled to speak clearly or forgot what he had said 10 minutes earlier.
Short-term memory loss can be an early sign of dementia, and an MRI scan he had showed cognitive decline.
The 53-year-old said he never really talks about the impact of heading the ball during games, with defenders even going through extra practice in pre-season to “break” their heads so that heading the ball doesn’t feel as bad. Soft.
“It’s crazy when you think about it now, but at the time I didn’t think about what might happen later. It was always just a situation and that’s what I do,” said Howie, who has four caps for his country. Britain in the 1990s.
He is one of a group of claimants launching legal proceedings against football’s governing bodies after allegedly suffering brain injuries during their careers.
While older footballs from the 1960s and 1970s were heavier, the speed and movement of more modern footballs can pose their own problems.
“Sometimes when you head the ball it immediately goes black and that’s because it’s coming at a certain speed. You ask ‘Where am I feeling?'” and then quickly realized that’s where I am now. , and then you just keep doing it,” he added.
Pallister and Howie were both friends with the family of former Middlesbrough defender Bill Gates, who died aged 79 from CTE last year. First adult football match with heading restriction 2021 in Spennymore Township.
“It’s only when you hear some of the different tragic stories from former players that you think ‘Wow, you know this, this could happen to me,'” Howie said.
Spennymoor under-nine assistant coach David Parnaby welcomed the rule change, which will see intentional headers removed from the game. Eliminated by the FA, external Three seasons at under-11 level.
“We think it’s a win-win situation because headers have been eliminated so we want to protect the kids first,” said Parnaby, a former Middlesbrough academy director whose son Stuart plays for Middlesbrough in the Premier League. .
“In my humble, honest opinion, the game has improved at this level. The kids are so creative now with passing and running the ball. They really love it.”
While both Pallister and Howie said they would probably still play the game knowing the risks, they said more could be done to educate current players and help former pros retire.
