Heading the Ball in Football to be made illegal ?

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38971750

Repeated headers during a footballer's professional career may be linked to long-term brain damage, according to tentative evidence from UK scientists.

The research, the first of its kind, follows anecdotal reports that players who head balls may be more prone to developing dementia later in life.

The Football Association says it will look at this area more closely.
Experts said recreational players were unlikely to incur problems.

The daughter of former England and West Brom striker Jeff Astle, who died aged 59 suffering from early onset dementia, said it was "obvious that it [his dementia] was linked to his footballing career".

Dawn Astle said he went from being "fit as a fiddle to just a shell", adding: "He was surrounded by England caps, FA Cup winners' medals, everything he'd won in football - he remembered none of it."

Jeff Astle's daughter tells Today it's "unforgivable" the problem was ignored for so long

Researchers from University College London and Cardiff University examined the brains of five people who had been professional footballers and one who had been a committed amateur throughout his life.

They had played football for an average of 26 years and all six went on to develop dementia in their 60s.
While performing post mortem examinations, scientists found signs of brain injury - called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in four cases.

CTE has been linked to memory loss, depression and dementia and has been seen in other contact sports.

Prof Huw Morris, of University College London, told the BBC: "When we examined their brains at autopsy we saw the sorts of changes that are seen in ex-boxers, the changes that are often associated with repeated brain injury which are known as CTE.

"So really for the first time in a series of players we have shown that there is evidence that head injury has occurred earlier in their life which presumably has some impact on them developing dementia."

In the study, published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica, the report's authors make it clear they were not analysing the risks of heading by children.