Listened to a debate about how it could eventually end .
It would of course see the end of long throws, change how a corner is taken ,the end of the hopeful long ball punt to ones 6ft plus striker ??
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Listened to a debate about how it could eventually end .
It would of course see the end of long throws, change how a corner is taken ,the end of the hopeful long ball punt to ones 6ft plus striker ??
I'm going to play Devil's advocate here, because there are a couple of things I'm a bit dubious about.
Firstly, it seems that they are comparing the game of 30, 40 years ago, with the game of today. The old leather footballs, and the muddy pitches of three or four decades ago, are long gone. And...
Secondly, you'd think there would be an awful lot more 'old time' footballers being diagnosed with dementia, after a career spent heading a football. It can't be just the famous names that are affected. Why don't we hear of more? In fact, you'd think there should be hundreds, if not thousands, of ex-players suffering. Maybe there are, and we just don't get to hear about them.
It could be, perhaps, that only certain players are affected. In the same way that some people are prone to cancer, or heart disease.
Since the 1950's there must have been thousands of professional footballers in the football league. Dementia affects one in 14 people over 65 and one in six over 80. That means the number of ex-professionals getting dementia in the past couple of decades would normally be in the thousands - or at least high hundreds, without factoring heading a sodden, heavy leather ball. It's an awful illness, but are old-time footballers who headed the ball a lot more likely to suffer from it ?
Just think if heading was banned from the begining there would not be Clarks goal Real Madrid no Banks save from Pele football would probably be boring.
I play 5 a side where you can't head but you can play over head height passes. You can't defend balls over the top. You'll see Vardy etc pulling into a wide channel for raked cross field balls, as the centre back can't head it clear.
Not heading a ball may enhance the game in as much greater ball control from the chest down would be the new skill set for youngsters to concentrate on and learn, an end of the crowded penalty boxes , perhaps we would see more expansive ground level passing and foot skills .
I cant think of another sport where the head is used. Can anyone else?
Can’t see it changing in my lifetime
I don't think that the end of heading the ball is coming. But I have to say, I cringe a little bit when I see a defender head back a goal kick into midfield. That can't be good for you.
Cardiff City football club would be in a right mess if heading was banned - the "big man up front" is absolutely essential even in these days when they get so little of the type of service they're supposed to thrive on.
I dont think there's a problem with heading the ball during a game, but what Geoff Hurst highlighted the other day were intensive training sessions where all they would do was head the ball repetitively. That's where the damage was done that's been recently highlighted by Bobby Charlton's diagnosis and Nobby Styles' death.
But Bobby Charlton is 83 years old. Alzheimer's, or senility, has been afflicting people that age or younger forever, people who never so much as touched a football. We all fade sooner or later.
Are there statistics that back up footballers having a higher level dementia? Even with the light balls we have now?
I hope it doesn’t go completely but if it was causing this I could see if being reduced or phased out slightly.