Kevin Doyle brings heading worries into focus

One of the attributes which made Kevin Doyle such an effective striker throughout his career – the Wexford man’s renowned spring heel leap and powerful heading ability – will now be in the spotlight for very different reasons after the Ireland international cited concussion and headaches caused by heading the ball as the reasons for his enforced retirement at the age of 34.

“This year it has been clear to me that heading the ball was becoming problematic, and causing me to have repeated headaches,” he said on Thursday. “Two concussions this season and numerous others over the years have made this more concerning.”

That a high profile player has felt the need to retire from the game in such circumstances is bound to add fresh urgency to the debate about the potential long-term consequences of repetitive heading of the ball, a concern which has already seen authorities in the US — where Doyle finished his career playing for Colorado Rapids in the MLS — ban heading for children aged 10 and under and limit heading for children aged 11 to 13 to 30 minutes per week.

In England, campaigners have long been calling for football’s governing bodies to fund more research into the issue, especially since a coroner found that the symptoms of early onset dementia from which West Brom and England striker Jeff Astle was suffering when he died, age 59, in 2002, had been caused by heading heavy footballs throughout his career in the 1960s and 70s. A re-examination of Astle’s brain found he was suffering from the neuro-degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

It emerged yesterday that the FA and Professional Footballers’ Association are close to announcing the launch of a new study into a possible link between heading the ball and brain injuries. In March, the two organisations said they would co-fund the research and set a deadline of May 17 for applications.

Those applications have now been reviewed by a team led by the FA’s head of medicine Dr Charlotte Cowie and the chosen research project should be revealed in the next few weeks.

Last year, Swede Jan Erkstrand, Professor of Sports Medicine at Linkoping University and the Lead Expert in Uefa’s Elite Club Injury Study was dismissive of the idea that heading in football might one day be subject to a total ban. “The fact is the problem with head injuries is normally from a clash of heads or an elbow or something like that,” he said. “Football is the biggest sport in the world and if that was the case you would have seen tons of former of football players with brain problems. It would be an epidemic. It isn’t.”