Irish Examiner view: Sport’s obligations to dementia victims

Experts believe the incidence of impairment due to concussion in former football players is under-estimated

Jeff Astle, a striker for West Bromwich Albion, who died from a degenerative brain disease caused by the constant heading of a wet, leather football throughout his 20-year professional soccer career.

The suggestion that England’s Football Association (FA) will not contribute to a fund for the welfare of former players suffering from dementia is an unseemly argument tarnishing a sport that has a number of other reputational challenges.

The dispute between the FA, which has been funding research into the connection between heading a football and brain trauma, and the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) centres on what is suspected to be the hidden cost of
future care, which could run into many millions.