Matt Tees

Spookily this has just been posted on their fans web site....


I saw it,too--was wondering if there would be any support among Lifers for a fund-raising effort to offer as a token of the esteem in which those who saw him play hold him.A gesture of affection for all the games he played,the valuable assists to Ray Treacy among others and the goals he scored,and the memories we have of him.But he,unfortunately,has less and less recollection of those games and goals.I'm not sure what target would be realistic,though.
Any thoughts,please? Thank you.

I put my Matt Tees reminiscences down earlier in the thread but I would just  like to make a couple of general points now having watched the programme.

There is no doubt that heading a ball repeatedly does something to the brain. Chris Nichol seemed sure his problems were heading related and I must say that having met him a few times when he was here, he has changed dramatically. He was highly intelligent, one of the first to use computers for training data etc. in the 1980s.

But his situation seemed different to Matt’s somehow. I know there is an age difference but the sort of dementia seemed different too. Certainly Kev Moore was different again but was his initially brought on by heading? Was Jeff Astle at 59 really in the same category as Nat Lofthouse at 85? Why were top headers like Tommy Lawton, Dixie Dean and Ted Drake not sufferers but Danny Blanchflower, Nobby Stiles and Stan Bowles, who rarely headed the ball, were/are? Why did my auntie who never headed a football get dementia?

I thought it was a good programme in many ways. Making the point about the problem being more in training that in matches was very valid. Somewhere I have a photo of Ron Rafferty leaping up to head a ball attached to a string on one of the supports at the back of the Osmond. Apparently he would do this every day and so would other players. There was a good point about the leather ball too. It was lighter than modern balls until it got wet. That was like being hit by a sandbag. The picture of Jeff Astle with a ball actually deformed by his forehead was superb.

The other really relevant point was the effect on the family. Dawn Astle’s description of her Dad troughing a handful of butter from the fridge was horrific wasn’t it? Then to see and hear May Tees describing their lives was quite heartbreaking.

But I feel there are too many unanswered questions yet in the science to really pin the blame or say why it affects some people and not others and that was the biggest weakness in the programme. It got hung up on the fear factor and particularly the understandable fear factor of Shearer himself.

Quoted from TheGoalKipper

I remember that game. What a match for a Town supporter. I never saw anyone in the air like him - and he wasn't tall either. Seemed like he was suspended in the air. The game that i remember most of those days from that time was when we got a home tie against Wolves with the great Andy Gray playing for them. I don't remember the score but we won and i can still see Matt scoring that header for us.What an atmosphere at that game  

Dementure and all those dieases which take your memory away scare me most of all. I keep on fogetting my own kids names at times and while everyone has a laugh about it you can't help worrying that it could be you in the early stages. This is the downside to us all living longer. Before we would be dead before this struck us.

You're getting your games mixed up there am afraid. Sir Matt had retired long before Andy Gray played for Wolves.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

I put my Matt Tees reminiscences down earlier in the thread but I would just  like to make a couple of general points now having watched the programme.

There is no doubt that heading a ball repeatedly does something to the brain. Chris Nichol seemed sure his problems were heading related and I must say that having met him a few times when he was here, he has changed dramatically. He was highly intelligent, one of the first to use computers for training data etc. in the 1980s.

But his situation seemed different to Matt’s somehow. I know there is an age difference but the sort of dementia seemed different too. Certainly Kev Moore was different again but was his initially brought on by heading? Was Jeff Astle at 59 really in the same category as Nat Lofthouse at 85? Why were top headers like Tommy Lawton, Dixie Dean and Ted Drake not sufferers but Danny Blanchflower, Nobby Stiles and Stan Bowles, who rarely headed the ball, were/are? Why did my auntie who never headed a football get dementia?

I thought it was a good programme in many ways. Making the point about the problem being more in training that in matches was very valid. Somewhere I have a photo of Ron Rafferty leaping up to head a ball attached to a string on one of the supports at the back of the Osmond. Apparently he would do this every day and so would other players. There was a good point about the leather ball too. It was lighter than modern balls until it got wet. That was like being hit by a sandbag. The picture of Jeff Astle with a ball actually deformed by his forehead was superb.

The other really relevant point was the effect on the family. Dawn Astle’s description of her Dad troughing a handful of butter from the fridge was horrific wasn’t it? Then to see and hear May Tees describing their lives was quite heartbreaking.

But I feel there are too many unanswered questions yet in the science to really pin the blame or say why it affects some people and not others and that was the biggest weakness in the programme. It got hung up on the fear factor and particularly the understandable fear factor of Shearer himself.

I have yet to see the programme but I read Macca`s book and when you read in there how he did heading drills with the Moore brothers and Mike Lyons it gets you thinking it`s not such a surprise how many ex footballers have had problems. The older type footballs will have made this even more of a factor.

What a goal scorer Matt was. He was tough and brave and his timing to get on the end of crosses was superb. He was not big and muscular but tough, wiry and quick. Oh for a striker with his attributes now.

I never saw Matt Tees play but was moved by the programme. It was well handled and thought provoking - I didn’t realise Shearer had it in him.

Whatever we do, we have to do it in a way which will have the approval of the Tees family and will be co-ordinated with the other clubs Matt played for. It needs to be thought about rather than a mad rush to just raise money!

Quoted from tarka

Whatever we do, we have to do it in a way which will have the approval of the Tees family and will be co-ordinated with the other clubs Matt payed for. It needs to be thought about rather than a mad rush to just raise money!

Absolutely this

Quoted from tarka

Whatever we do, we have to do it in a way which will have the approval of the Tees family and will be co-ordinated with the other clubs Matt played for. It needs to be thought about rather than a mad rush to just raise money!

I said this much earlier in this thread, in fact I am not convinced that a money raising effort would be appropriate at all.

I think a discreet approach by the Trust or an old team mate simply to find out if May and her family need any help at all in any area (hopefully they already have some support organised) and failing that just to show that the club and Matt's hundreds of fans are aware and that he and his wife are in our thoughts and he has not been forgotten

Quoted from Ipswin

I said this much earlier in this thread, in fact I am not convinced that a money raising effort would be appropriate at all.

I think a discreet approach by the Trust or an old team mate simply to find out if May and her family need any help at all in any area (hopefully they already have some support organised) and failing that just to show that the club and Matt's hundreds of fans are aware and that he and his wife are in our thoughts and he has not been forgotten

Possibly your finest post Swin!