Research into heading a football has identified “significant” changes in brain function from routine practice.
The study by the University of Stirling is the first to detect direct changes after players are exposed to everyday head impacts, as opposed to clinical brain injuries like concussion.
The findings come after concerns that players’ brains are damaged by repeated head impacts.
World Cup winner George Cohen has called for the game to tackle the issue of head injuries, saying old-style leather footballs are “nasty”.
Former England and West Brom striker Jeff Astle died in 2002 at the age of 59 having suffered from early on-set dementia, which a coroner found was caused by heading footballs and gave the cause of death as “industrial disease”.
Increased inhibition in the brain was detected after just a single session of heading
A subsequent re-examination of Astle’s brain found he was suffering from the neuro-degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
CTE can only be established following death and it has also been found in deceased American footballers, boxers and rugby players.
Astle’s daughter Dawn has been campaigning for more research into the matter and was told by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association in late 2014 that they were talking to Fifa.
Now, researchers have tested a group of 19 footballers by making them head a ball 20 times.
The ball was fired from a machine designed to simulate the pace and power of a corner and scientists tested players’ brain function and memory before and immediately after the heading sessions. They were also tested after 24 hours, 48 hours and two weeks.
Increased inhibition in the brain was detected after just a single session of heading.
Memory test performance was also reduced between 41 and 67 per cent, with effects normalising within 24 hours.
Whether the changes to the brain remain temporary after repeated exposure to a football and the long-term consequences of heading on brain health, are yet to be investigated.