Former Footballers Share Health Concerns Related to Heading

Two ex-Premier League footballers have shared their health worries with the BBC, stemming from years of heading footballs. Gary Pallister reported suffering severe migraines throughout his playing career, and fellow former England defender Steve Howey’s brain scans indicate cognitive decline. Former England defender Gary Pallister stated, “That worry and fear is always there, I think it is for a lot of players.” Studies have revealed that professional footballers face an increased likelihood of sustaining brain injuries. Judith Gates, a prominent advocate from Head Safe Football, has sent a letter to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, requesting that heading the ball be recognized as a national health concern to protect future players. Pallister secured the Premier League title in 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997. During his career, debilitating migraines occasionally prevented the defender, Pallister, from training for up to two days. Starting at approximately 17 years old, he would sometimes experience tingling sensations in his arms and endure severe headaches that impaired his vision. The former Manchester United and Middlesbrough player recounted, “I would probably get three to four migraines a year, and they were quite debilitating, you know – vision, speech, the tingling and the violent headaches. It would be like that for hours, until eventually I would throw up, and that would be the start of the release of the pain.” He added, “The following day would leave me absolutely washed out. Two days you were out of the game – the pain, the sickness, the feeling afterwards was awful.” He reflected, “You kind of wondered being a centre-half and having to head lot of footballs whether that was anything to do with the cause of it. It wasn’t until I actually stopped playing football that the migraines kind of disappeared.” Pallister, aged 59, recalled an incident where he was accidentally struck in the head by a goalkeeper during a header challenge, resulting in him being hospitalized with a concussion, even though his manager wished for him to continue playing. The former defender, who secured the Premier League title four times with Manchester United, stated, “I think at this moment I’m OK, I can do my sudokus, try to do a little bit of brain training.” He continued, “But it is enough to know what I did go through with the migraines and the concussions and being knocked out, that the potential is there for me to have brain damage.” Howey, a defender for Manchester City and Newcastle, has observed that he occasionally finds it difficult to articulate words or recall information mentioned just 10 minutes prior. Short-term memory impairment can indicate an early stage of dementia, and an MRI scan he underwent revealed a degree of cognitive decline. The 53-year-old mentioned that the consequences of heading were rarely discussed during his playing days, and defenders would even ‘break in’ their head with additional pre-season practice to toughen it. Howey, who earned four caps for England in the 1990s, commented, “When you think about it now it’s crazy, but there wasn’t the kind of thought about what could possibly happen afterwards. It was always just a case of, this is what my job is.” He is part of a collective of plaintiffs pursuing legal action against football’s governing bodies concerning brain injuries purportedly sustained throughout their careers. Although footballs from the 1960s and 70s were heavier when wet, potentially resulting in fewer headers, the velocity and trajectory of contemporary balls can present different challenges. He further explained, “There would be times you’d head it and it would immediately go black, that’s from a shot where it’s coming at pace. You’d have that ‘Where am I feeling?’ and then realise very quickly that this is where I am. And then you just got on with it.” Both Pallister and Howey are acquainted with the family of former Middlesbrough defender Bill Gates, who passed away last year at 79 from CTE and whose story led to the creation of the Head Safe Football charity by his wife Judith. Judith also assisted in arranging the inaugural adult football match with heading limitations at Spennymoor Town in 2021. Howey remarked, “It’s only when you hear the different tragic stories of some of the ex-players, you kind of think that ‘Wow, you know this, this could happen to me.'” David Parnaby, an assistant coach for the Spennymoor under-nines team, has expressed approval for a new rule that will gradually eliminate deliberate heading in matches for players under 11, implemented by the FA, external over three seasons. Parnaby, a former Middlesbrough academy director whose son Stuart played in the Premier League for Boro, commented, “We think it’s a win-win situation here because heading’s been taken out the game, so first and foremost we’re protecting the boys.” He added, “In my humble, honest opinion, the game has improved at this level. The boys are now being creative with passing in and dribbling in. They really enjoy it.” Although both Pallister and Howey indicated they would likely have still played football despite being aware of the dangers, they believe further efforts are needed to inform current players and support retired professionals. A 2019 study conducted by specialists at Glasgow University revealed that footballers had a three and a half times higher mortality rate from neurodegenerative diseases compared to the general population. This research, commissioned by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association, was initiated following a coroner’s determination that former England and West Bromwich Albion striker Jeff Astle’s death resulted from a brain disease attributed to heading footballs. In May, it came to light that the family of the deceased Tottenham defender and Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear, along with four Premier League-era players, are among those pursuing legal action against football’s governing bodies. The plaintiffs also comprise Howey and the relatives of 1966 World Cup champion Nobby Stiles, who passed away in 2020 at 78 years old, having suffered from prostate cancer and advanced dementia. His brain was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition that can result in dementia and is thought to arise from recurrent head impacts.