A&H

The Art of Heading...

The Referee Store
Next they'll be saying don't use your feet in case you stub a toe! Heading is part of the game; I've never heard of any professionals suffer any long term effects after heading a ball.
 
It's one of the great pleasures of football to see a goal scored from an old fashioned thumping header. However, here seems to be a growing body of medical opinion that repeatedly heading a ball can have a long term physical impact. I'm not sure if it is at the stage where this is considered as universal medical fact but I see the issue rising in prominence.
 
Stay with me on this...

No heading rule comes into force over here... Some complain but coaches get used to it and enforce it... As a result the ball spends more time on the floor... Kids get used to playing the ball more and having more touches... Consequently they become more skillful and the huge punt disappears from the game... England catch up with the continentals in terms of skill and become perennial semi-finalists in major tournaments*

* I wrote this rather than winners as it cannot be called total fantasy this way! ;)
 
Stay with me on this...

No heading rule comes into force over here... Some complain but coaches get used to it and enforce it... As a result the ball spends more time on the floor... Kids get used to playing the ball more and having more touches... Consequently they become more skillful and the huge punt disappears from the game... England catch up with the continentals in terms of skill and become perennial semi-finalists in major tournaments*

* I wrote this rather than winners as it cannot be called total fantasy this way! ;)
Are they allowed to head in open-aged?

Kind of like amateur boxing - where head guards until you get to professional status?

Eureka!!!! Head guards are introduced as compulsory equipment
 
Maybe it may lead to developing Footballs that are softer and less harmful to head
 
Maybe its a North / South thing... Let them trial those silly padded hats with the Southern Softies first!
See if where there is any sense, that there is any feeling? Not hopeful really! ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: DB
Lets ban the game full stop just incase someone hoofs it and hits one of the young'ens in the head!!!

Rubbish idea. Nothing better than a lovely bullet header. Plus, don't know about balls over in America but the balls over here seem to be softer and softer rather than the big hard leather ones that used to be used.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DB
It has very little to do with the weight of the ball. It's more about velocity, but physics is dull and no one wants to talk about kinetic energy.

In the states there is a move towards preventing head injuries in youth sport in particular. CTE led to a huge payout in NFL (excellent Will Smith film portrays the fight) so there is nervousness about repeated head knocks in developing skulls. There is a theory that dementia and possibly Parkinson's is influenced by repeated head strikes. It also appears that it is the danger of collision head injury whilst challenging for a header rather than the ball to head by itself- Jeff Astle, Belleni are two where it has been suggested there football careers played a part in there demise.

Plenty of studies but no medical consensus yet.
 
Maybe its a North / South thing... Let them trial those silly padded hats with the Southern Softies first!
See if where there is any sense, that there is any feeling? Not hopeful really! ;)
They're very common in the US, they're almost like scrum caps, but without the top. I think, personally, they're actually negative for development as players don't learn the feeling of heading, then go play high school and/or college and have that shock of the head.

It has very little to do with the weight of the ball. It's more about velocity, but physics is dull and no one wants to talk about kinetic energy.

In the states there is a move towards preventing head injuries in youth sport in particular. CTE led to a huge payout in NFL (excellent Will Smith film portrays the fight) so there is nervousness about repeated head knocks in developing skulls. There is a theory that dementia and possibly Parkinson's is influenced by repeated head strikes. It also appears that it is the danger of collision head injury whilst challenging for a header rather than the ball to head by itself- Jeff Astle, Belleni are two where it has been suggested there football careers played a part in there demise.

Plenty of studies but no medical consensus yet.
I watched the film, found it very interesting but I really & truly don't believe it's the same in soccer/football!

As a coach who has to abide by this, it's something I have to do. I don't agree with it at all, but I get on with it. Does it encourage coaches to get their players to keep it on the ground? No, it encourages them to play fast strikers who can run onto the ball that can't be headed!!!
 
Next they'll be saying don't use your feet in case you stub a toe! Heading is part of the game; I've never heard of any professionals suffer any long term effects after heading a ball.

There is some evidence - see this link, showing long term effects on a group of Norwegian players.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2717003?dopt=Abstract

Anyway, they're not talking about stopping professionals from heading the ball, they're talking about children, 11 years old and younger, whose brains are still developing.

According to an interview given by Robert Cantu, professor of neurosurgery at the Boston University School of Medicine:
The brains of youngsters are not as myelinated as adult brains. Myelin is the coating of the neuron fibers—kind of like coating on a telephone wire. It helps transmission of signals and it also gives neurons much greater strength, so young brains are more vulnerable.

The full interview:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-heading-a-soccer-ball-cause-brain-damage/

In case you're interested in other articles and studies on the effects of heading the ball, see the links below:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/24/study-finds-heading-football-immediate-effect-brain
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/nov/01/football-heading-brain-damage
 
Last edited:
Back
Top