Heading Ban

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Coming in for u/12s in Scotland very soon due to the concern over brain illnesses in later life. I haven’t seen any lower age group games for a long while but from what I can remember heading the ball wasn’t a particularly frequent occurrence among the kids. I would imagine games will become a sort of below head height game for the lads up there. May improve the playing on the deck aspect of the game which certainly from the game’s point of view wouldn’t be a bad thing. Heading is a massive part of the sport and a great skill, sad to see greats like Jeff Astle succumbing to it though. Is it a ticking time bomb for ex players or is it just unlucky if you eventually get affected by playing the sport you loved in years gone by?

When i used to train we would do heading drills (not that kind) which would consist of someone throwing a ball up and you heading the ball back to them as you moved down the pitch, this would be repeated 20 times x 3. Terry Boyle would go out after training and get the young lads to ping it, sit it up etc 50 times and he'd just practice his clearance heading. Crazy when you think of it. Things are changing though. Pre season training would consist of three or four 7 mile runs per week up hills and mountains and on terrain that didn't suit a footballers ankles and knees. There wasn't a bleep test back then, if there was then plenty of players would've pissed it, although conditioning didn't exist.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

When i used to train we would do heading drills (not that kind) which would consist of someone throwing a ball up and you heading the ball back to them as you moved down the pitch, this would be repeated 20 times x 3. Terry Boyle would go out after training and get the young lads to ping it, sit it up etc 50 times and he'd just practice his clearance heading. Crazy when you think of it. Things are changing though. Pre season training would consist of three or four 7 mile runs per week up hills and mountains and on terrain that didn't suit a footballers ankles and knees. There wasn't a bleep test back then, if there was then plenty of players would've pissed it, although conditioning didn't exist.

At one point this season City had 11 players on the injury list. Newcastle have the same currently. Arsenal 6 or 7. It's funny how with all this scientific training and diets the modern footballer is much more likely to get injured training than in the bad old days..

[Tuerto]

At one point this season City had 11 players on the injury list. Newcastle have the same currently. Arsenal 6 or 7. It's funny how with all this scientific training and diets the modern footballer is much more likely to get injured training than in the bad old days..

I think that you make a good point. Obviously i'm not medical or into sports science so my opinions are anecdotal although it does seem that way. doesn't it? Players were certainly tougher back then. I can remember players getting cortisone before games just so that they could play. Roger Gibbins had a full on virus before one game, he was out of it, but he played because he had to. When i was at the club the most naturally fit player was jason Perry, he could run forever. A player who was fit was a bloke named Leigh Barnard. He was brought in from Swindon where Lou Macari was manager, Macari was apparently a beast with fitness. Barnard would do shuttle runs around the pitch before training started. I can remember some of the first team looking on from the tunnel in dis belief. George Wood wasn't impressed