Heading the ball

It's a bit like alcohol, if it was discovered/invented today it would be banned. But football/drinking is so part of our culture that imaging them not being here or in a radically different format is difficult.

Apparently, the heavier ball is a bit of a myth because today's lighter balls travel much faster, so the overall force of impact is similar because it's directly proportional to the momentum (p=mv).

It's down to players to make a choice. Early onset dementia is a terrible price to play, but it seems a long way off even when you are young.

I remember some report into this, might have been American, were they said it was certain types of headers that did the damage. Basically one were the ball is pumped high into the air and somebody is heading against that force when it drops back down into play.

Their suggested solution, without affecting the game too much, was that kicks from the keeper would have to bounce once before it could be headed (or you could use foot or other bit of you that wasn't your head). That way about 80% of the real damaging headers would be avoided. Crosses and corners were less problematic so they felt didn't need to change if this other change was made. However you do then run into the problem of people adapting to get round the rule, so the keeper passes to a defender who launches it upfield for example...

One thing I think they did say was this was adult males they were referring to and youths or females in particular due to lower neck strength may well be effected more. I rememberbthinking then that it was possible this issue would lead to different rules for youngsters and especially females,with heading perhaps banned more widely for them.

Out of curiosity, just how many have developed dementia with a direct link to heading to the ball? Not being a girl private, genuinely interested…I guess you’ll only ever hear of professional players getting it but equally, I’d argue that the professional game sees more headers.

I don’t think they need to eradicate them, nor change the rules, possibly at kids level but the professional game has had enough excrement done to it to balderdash it up. I guess it’s about medical care and the likes, monitoring and so forth…

I think most of us on this forum will know an elderly relative who has or died of dementia. It’s very sad when it happens to someone in their 80s or 90s but if it starts happening to a lot of footballers in their 40s, 50s and 60s you’ve got to take action.

I suppose the first step is actually limiting the amount of heading in training.

You could tweak the rules for example you encourage teams to play out from the back at goal kicks by limiting the distance a goal kick can travel (no further than half-way perhaps) and the number of opposition players within 30 meters of your goal from a goal kick.

Quoted from DB

I don't how a child's skull develops to maturity so it's hard to answer. One way around it would be to use an inflatable type beach ball the size of a football. Heading skills could be taught but not at the expense of damage to the skull.

Really good point point DB. I know Jeff Astle and Danny Blanchflower  both footballers died of illnesses related in part to heading the old leather balls. This must of been more damaging to the brain especially when the balls were wet.

On a similar note a book/ articles have been written about the dangers of boxing . For a time certain people ignored the dangers despite medical advice ( promoters for one) as cash was the primary aim which is incredibly sad to see. Overall the fight game I feel is becoming more safety conscious as a whole though. Yearly brain scans,fights spaced out so fighters can recover to name but some.

As others have said football does pose risks but  some sports are more dangerous than others. The more we try to protect our athletes the better but we can't ban something eg like boxing which has been going on since humanity evolved and long before football ever originated .

Quoted from aldi_01

This is the most confusing thing I’ve read…

The point I was trying to make is that fundamental rule changes can improve the spectacle.

Brazil have scored some fantastic goals without heading the ball:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e6DlM9SRsA

Quoted from Poojah

Remove heading from the game and the game you have left no longer resembles football as we know it. How would corners work? Can you still kick the ball high and long?

Headed goals from corners are only scored because defenders haven't done their job properly.  It is easier to head the ball away from goal than to direct it into the net.

After heading is banned, expect to see more inventive corner routines like these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6m3Ye8H6b4

I know a couple of them involve headers, so don't bother pointing that out.

Erling Haaland doesn't score many headers, but he's still an awesome striker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHXXU4L6el8

If there was no such thing as heading the ball, Wrexham V Town would have gone to penalties after a 1-1 draw. If we'd have got through, Hudlin would probably be a basketball player (no offence) and we'd have won 1-0 in 90 minutes.

I apologise if this story about Mick Lyons and Alzheimer's has been mentioned already:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/ex-everton-captain-mick-lyons-26941041