CHRIS SUTTON: It’s a shame English football stars suffering from dementia are STILL waiting for help

The lack of support from English football authorities for the families of former players – like mine – who have suffered or are suffering from neurodegenerative diseases is a complete disgrace.

We must act now. But what the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association are doing is just taking a look down the road.

When I learned that the FA-backed HEADING study had been accused of a conflict of interest after its initial results failed to establish a strong link between heading a ball and the appearance of illnesses such as dementia, I wasn’t sure. surprised to say the least.

In the eyes of all, it is dishonest to involve medical researchers in such a study, but also in other bodies responsible for deciding whether dementia in football is recognized as an industrial disease.

Researchers involved in these issues must be independent. The researchers have since said they declared their potential conflict of interest to a medical journal before the article was published. But why didn’t they do it right away?

Man United and England icon Sir Bobby Charlton diagnosed with dementia before passing away

Nobby Stiles suffered from dementia for several years before his death in 2020

Stiles and Charlton won the World Cup with England in 1966 and the European Cup with Manchester United two years later.

All this only reinforces the view of many that football is trying to cover up the problem and delay any meaningful action.

We are now at the stage where the available evidence is irrefutable. It is abundantly clear that the impact of heading a football has led to former players suffering dementia and other problems and that there is real potential for those who take to the field today. today to have similar problems in the future.

The HEADING study seems to suggest otherwise. This suits the FA perfectly. This leaves the problem in the long grass.

Delay, delay, delay is their mantra. Football does nothing. It has now been over three years since my father died of dementia.

He and my family did not seek direct support from the PFA, but many others in the same situation did or did not receive help.

This frustrates me so much and makes me so angry. We are still in a situation where the powers that be are deliberately obstructive.

Throwing it all into the mix is ​​an absolute disgrace. At the highest level of football we have managers and players like Pep Guardiola and Bernardo Silva complaining about playing too many games.

The FA responded immediately, and controversially too, by removing FA Cup replays.

Raphael Varane has admitted playing some huge matches while suffering the effects of a concussion – and has pulled out of matches this season.

Morgan Gibbs-White (left) and Beto (right) required treatment after their collision on Sunday

The sudden impact is another reminder of the danger associated with head collisions.

Mail Sport launched campaign in 2020 for football to finally tackle dementia scandal

But even though we are fully aware that former players die painful deaths because of their careers – and I can say this from personal experience – no action is being taken in this direction.

Football remains silent on the issue. One could even go so far as to say that because the HEADING study is accused of a conflict of interest, medical experts and authorities are complicit in preventing any meaningful action. Such an approach is truly shameful.

We also saw an example last weekend that today’s players need to be protected from the risk of head injuries when Everton’s Beto had a nasty collision with Nottingham’s Morgan Gibbs-White Forest. Beto lost consciousness, but has since been released from the hospital.

You haven’t seen many tweets from Nottingham Forest about Gibbs-White’s well-being. Instead, their social media account denounced VAR’s decisions.

It shows that clubs are focused on performance – in Forest’s case, on Premier League survival – and not on player welfare.