The Jeff Astle Foundation called for a parliamentary inquiry into "past missed warnings over the potential link between football and brain disease" amid revelations on Saturday that the FA was first informed of a possible problem "at least 22 years ago," according to Jeremy Wilson of the London TELEGRAPH. Baroness Elaine Murphy, who became an independent life peer in '04, said that she wrote to the FA in '95 following a study in the medical journal she was then editing but that the FA "were very short and refuted any such association could exist." The article was prompted by the death of Northern Ireland int'l Danny Blanchflower from Alzheimer's and the "experience of staff at Guy's Hospital in London who had treated several former professional footballers with dementia." It was written by Dr. Jon Spear, and posed the question, "Are professional footballers at risk of developing dementia?" It concluded that "further work should now be undertaken to assess the relative risk of Alzheimer's Disease in former professionals," beginning with a retrospective case-control study in players. Yet "it is only now, almost a quarter of a century on" and after the Astle family has been contacted by the families of "more than 300 former players suffering with dementia symptoms," that the FA has commissioned independent research that is expected to follow Spear's recommendation. An announcement is "expected imminently" on who will lead the research project that is being jointly funded by the FA and the Professional Footballers' Association. The FA's concussion protocol, which has a mandatory six-day break from play following a suspected concussion, was introduced in '15 (TELEGRAPH, 10/7).
PARENTAL CONCERN: In London, Ian Herbert reported parents of children "on the books of at least three Premier League academies" have expressed concerns to coaches about the effects of repeatedly heading the ball. Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane said last week that players should "play chess" if they are worried about brain damage caused by heading. Man City club doctor Matthew Brown said that concussions are "a massive issue" which parents of academy players aged eight to 12 are "concerned about." Brown: "At Manchester City we have a philosophy of football. We play beautiful football. There isn't a lot of heading. I am not going to say there isn't ever any heading because obviously there is. But what I do is ... get the parents in, talk to them about it (DAILY MAIL, 10/7).
