Astle widow’s fury at FA chief

The chairman of the Football Association Greg Dyke has "swanned off" to the World Cup without addressing research that shows former England striker Jeff Astle died from a brain condition normally linked to boxers, the player’s widow has said.

Astle, who is best remembered for scoring West Brom’s winning goal in the 1968 FA Cup final, died in 2002, aged 59, after being originally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

But neurosurgeon Dr Willie Stewart carried out a reexamination of Astle’s brain at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital after being granted permission by the footballer’s family.

It emerged earlier this month that he concluded Astle had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease found in individuals with a history of multiple concussions and other forms of head injury.

Astle’s family have been campaigning for the FA to investigate the damage caused by head injuries in football.

His wife, Laraine Astle, broke down in tears yesterday as she described her disgust that FA chairman Greg Dyke has not contacted his family after he was sent advance notice of the latest examination of her husband’s brain.

She said: “We thought foolishly perhaps that we would have had some reply from him as the seriousness of CTE was found which left no doubt whatsoever what killed Jeff...

“He’s (Dyke) swanned off to Brazil and he’s never acknowledged anything,” she said.

Mrs Astle made the comments at the launch of a cross-party report, entitled Concussion Can Kill, which calls for a British parliamentary inquiry into concussion in sport.

On hearing her remarks at the event in Portcullis House, central London, Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “That is pretty despicable, to be honest.

“If only 0.7% of the transfer money that is spent on footballers every year was devoted to research, it would make a dramatic difference, and families such as yours might not have to face this again.”