The ball is falling, like a missile in its deadly descent, the bodies down there wait, huddle together and fight, not to flee from the impact, but to go towards it, and the one who rises best will do it, using elbows, shoves and height, his head above the heads, and then a reckless sound that runs through the stadium, is that of the head against the ball, while the ball changes its course and takes a direction, a sense of goal or rejection of the goal. This is the ancient art of heading, that bodily expression that has been evident in football since it has been football: headers that can be powerful, weak or bold; head butts like hammer blows; head butts like bazookas or springs. And the poor ball suffering, and the poor head holding on.
Some time, someone was going to ask, and how much can the head hold? How much does that hairy bazooka suffer? Or worse still, how much does that uninhabited crown suffer, or that bare forehead? And yes, have you ever wondered? Science put its stealthy gaze on the game for a few years, not to decipher the impossible goals, but to determine the real affectation in the athlete after submitting his head, call it the frontal lobe, to that indiscriminate pounding that is so recurrent and normal in every game, and always, since the boy saw the first ball fall from heaven. The findings represent an alarm: the risk that soccer players have of suffering from neurological diseases in the future.
The FAEnglish football organization, which governs the premier league, the most powerful league in the world, launched an accurate ball, one that has been preparing for years, since in 2019 it made the first warning: it plans to prohibit – and it seems that now it is serious – deliberate head shots in the categories under 12 years old. It is a reaction to the results of the studies that have been carried out and that have been echoed in the media especially since 2017. Science launches the center so that organized football can see if it stops balls – or balls – or not.
For now it is a temporary measure, which has the endorsement of the monarchs of the regulation, the International Board, but with the idea of implementing it officially and strictly in the 2023-2024 season. The objective is to prevent neurological diseases that may appear in the future, after the accumulated activity of the head, either due to headbutting the ball, head-to-head blows, or hitting the ground. “The results of these studies will serve as the basis for the development of guidelines on head kicks in training in professional football and for adult amateurs,” they said from the FA after their first studies. Now, they will refine their strategy from an early age. Now that the theme, paradox of the game, seems like a serious headache.
And why keep an eye on children? Basically because at those early ages is when the brain needs more care. So said a Colombian expert, Remberto Burgos of Espriella, former president of the Colombian Society of Neurology and author of a scientific document on the relationship between heading and brain injuries. Remberto has been talking about this for years: “The brain’s maturation process lasts until the age of 25, that’s why it’s good to take safe measures so that children grow up healthy,” EL TIEMPO told him in 2019.
His stance is one of prevention, and he does not hide words to suggest that the head of soccer children must be protected. “In the children’s leagues, when the brain is in full formation, the boys who practice soccer must do so with a brain protector, that is, with a helmet. That does not change the essence of sport and children are going to have healthy brains”, is what he has been suggesting for a long time.
Protection and foundation, that is, you have to know how to head to minimize risks. “In soccer schools they should be taught to head well, to be spontaneous. Two things must be taken into account: one, as far as possible, that the impact be made on the frontal region and that the cervical region, the neck, have strong muscles, so that the impulse from back to front has less impact. And then, that there is a proper sagittal alignment, in such a way that the neck maintains a firm position and the muscle is prepared for the frontal impact, ”he explained at the time.
Science enters the field
Willie Stewart It looks like the name of a British footballer, but it is not, his white uniform does not have a sports emblem. Stewart is a man of science: he is a neuropathologist. In 2019, this honorary professor at the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, spearheaded an ambitious research program to scientifically determine that soccer players are at high risk of neurodegenerative disease as a result of accurate and repetitive headers.
Their findings, with data found in around 8,000 former soccer players, compared with more than 23,000 people of similar ages and conditions, showed that professional soccer players in that country had a 3.5 times higher risk of dying from this disease than the general population. In addition, they concluded that soccer players were five times more likely to suffer Alzheimer’s (memory loss), two times more than parkinson’s (central nervous system disorder that affects movement), and four times more than amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (neuromuscular-type degenerative disease).
Likewise, the magazine JAMA Neurology, which is not a sports magazine but a strict science one, entered the field and got into the subject of soccer with the same purpose. One of his 2021 articles entitled ‘Professional football and the risk of dementia: the ugly side of the beautiful game’, reveals that the risks increase according to the position of the footballer on the pitch and the length of his career. They say that a 2017 summit on head injuries in football concluded that the frequency of headbutts increases from the youth level to the professional level. It influences, they say, the general exposure of the headers as the force of impact.
“Studies have inconsistently detected the acute and chronic sequelae of soccer headers.” The findings have shown poorer performance in cognitive tests in athletes and compromised white matter integrity. And if in soccer it worries, not to mention in boxing, in rugby, in American football, where the head suffers.
A reality
Keith Pontin is not a scientific name. This is a soccer player. He was a Welsh central defender who played for teams like Cardiff City and his country’s national team in the 1970s and 1980s. Pontin comes up as he has been one of the case studies. He died as a result of early dementia caused by head injuries suffered throughout his football career. This was determined by an investigation published last May and certified by a forensic court in Pontypridd. He died in August 2020 at the age of 64 from “chronic traumatic encephalopathy”, which is nothing more than a degenerative disease of the brain.
Jack Charlton is indeed a soccer name. He is the brother of the legendary Bobby Charlton. Jack, world champion with the English team in 1966 and who was nicknamed The Giraffe because of his 1.91 height, had things in common with Pontin: also a defender, he was also good at heading, and he also suffered from degenerative diseases of the brain, related to hitting of the ball with his head. He died at the age of 85.
The British have an extensive file. There is also the case of Nobby Stiles, world champion with England in 1966, and who died in 2020 at the age of 78. Stiles suffered from advanced dementia and is another case associated with this situation. His family told the Daily Mail that they donated the brain to Dr. Stewart’s FIELD study for study. Stewart’s suspicions were confirmed. “And what did they find, doctor?” Was the anxious question of the Stiles family. “Severe brain damage, damage that can only be explained if he headed the ball during the sustained period of his career,” was the sudden diagnosis.
The brain knows everything about the soccer player, but the soccer player knows little about his brain. At least there are already those who reflect on the matter, and there are even soccer men who make an extreme call for the game to be rethought, including the rules. Gary Linker, a former English footballer, made a daring proposal: play football without his head. Says who came to dominate the art of the goal at the point of headers.
The issue is on the table, or on the field: science throws the deep pass so that organized football decides whether or not to head into the matter.
PAUL ROMERO
Editor of THE TIME
@PabloRomeroET
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