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Neurodegenerative diseases were a factor in deaths of 42 per cent of footballers from 1965-66 season

by souhaib
November 21, 2020
in Sports
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A new study of top-flight footballers playing in England in the 1965-66 season has found neurodegenerative diseases were a factor in 42 per cent of the deaths among that group so far. 

This shocking new statistic confirms professional footballers are dying of dementia at a rate of between three and four times the general population. 

The 1965-66 season culminated with the finest summer for English international football to date as Sir Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore et al won the World Cup for the first and only time.

A new study reveals neurodegenerative diseases were a factor in 42% of the deaths of top flight footballers playing in England during the 1965-66 season

But the new research, undertaken by the Mail on Sunday, will only add momentum to the campaign for further investigation into the dangers of playing the game, and heading in particular.

The conclusions of the Mail on Sunday‘s work have been described as ‘startling’ and ‘important’ by Dr Willie Stewart, the world’s foremost expert on the link between football and brain injury-related deaths.

Dr Stewart, a consultant neuropathologist based in Glasgow, led the biggest study to date on the subject, published a year ago, comparing the causes of death of 7,676 former Scottish male professional football players born between 1900 and 1976 against more than 23,000 individuals from the general population.

Nobby Stiles (right) suffered from dementia and was part of England's 1966 group of heroes

Nobby Stiles (right) suffered from dementia and was part of England’s 1966 group of heroes

The new Mail on Sunday study focussed specifically on the pool of 475 first-team players at the 22 clubs in England’s top division in 1965-66.

Of that group, 185 have died to date, and at least 79 of those, or 42 per cent, have died with neurodegenerative illnesses or conditions associated with traumatic brain injury.

The vast majority of the 79 died from Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, or Parkinson’s disease or related disorders, or motor neurone disease.

When a formal cause of a death was a different condition, for example cancer or pulmonary embolism, but a player had endured years of dementia, the Mail on Sunday included those players as having died with (if not of) dementia.

‘That [42 per cent] is a startling number and should be an eye-opener for the problem football has,’ Dr Stewart told the Mail on Sunday.

Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton has also been discovered to have dementia

Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton has also been discovered to have dementia

‘The detail of your study is important. Just because somebody died from a pulmonary embolism didn’t mean they didn’t have dementia.

‘One of the arguments used by critics of [our] work [published a year ago] — and these critics invariably come from within football — is that we were looking specifically at Scottish players.

‘Your findings are important as the data set is from England, with primarily English players. And let’s not forget it was through an English footballer, Jeff Astle, that we proved a link between football and irreparable brain damage.’ 

Astle, an England striker who played almost 300 league games for West Brom between 1964 and 1974, died aged 59 in 2002.

He became a landmark case in the fight for the truth about dementia in football after his brain was re-examined in 2014 by Dr Stewart, who found Astle had in fact died of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Dr Stewart was introduced to Astle’s family by journalist Sam Peters of the Mail on Sunday.

Jeff Astle (above) died in 2002 and is a landmark case in the fight for truth about dementia

Jeff Astle (above) died in 2002 and is a landmark case in the fight for truth about dementia

This newspaper began campaigning in 2013 for more research into the effects of concussion in rugby, and then into dementia in football. Seven years on, awareness is widespread and campaigning ever more urgent, not least by the Mail on Sunday and our sister title.

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Key findings from the new Mail on Sunday study show 42 per cent of deaths link to neurodegenerative illness and traumatic brain injury, with at least 25 of the 290 players still alive having dementia. The latter figure is certainly higher in reality. 

Numerous clubs, former players’ associations and individuals shared with us that they know of cases not in the public domain but wanted to keep those details private.

Of the 79 players known to have died with neurodegenerative conditions, the average age of death was 74, and the median age 75. This too is shocking. The chances of a British man dying of such a cause (across all age groups) is around 13 per cent, ranging from around six per cent among 70-year-olds to around 10 per cent of 75-year-olds to around 25 per cent by the age of 90.

Six members of England's World Cup-winning squad, including Jack Charlton, have died with Alzheimer’s or dementia

Six members of England’s World Cup-winning squad, including Jack Charlton, have died with Alzheimer’s or dementia

Of England’s 22-man squad for the 1966 World Cup, 13 have died and six of those (or 46 per cent) with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

‘That’s high,’ says Dr Stewart. ‘But also consistent with what we have shown so far – that no matter how you crunch the numbers, the chances of a professional footballer dying with a neurodegenerative disease is 3.5 to 4.5 more likely than the general population.

‘In a squad of 22 you might expect two or three. We’re at six already [from England’s 1966 squad] and will end up in double figures.’

The six 1966 players dying from Alzheimer’s or other dementias are goalkeeper Peter Bonetti, defenders Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Ray Wilson and Gerry Byrne, and midfielder Martin Peters. A seventh player, Sir Bobby, was recently diagnosed with dementia. 

Other prominent dementia or CTE deaths include Liverpool’s Tommy Smith, Manchester United’s Bill Foulkes and Tottenham’s Dave Mackay.

‘The frustration is this problem has been staring the sport in the face for decades,’ Stewart says. ‘It’s taken until 2019 and 2020 to acknowledge. And still the game isn’t moving forward on the issue really.

‘Rugby over the past decade has moved on considerably and they don’t even have the [expanse of] data and evidence football has. Sam Peters and the Mail on Sunday [concussion campaign from 2013] was at the heart of that.

‘Simply put, football has to move into the 21st century on this.’

HOW WE DID IT 

1: The Mail on Sunday compiled squad lists of the 475 first-team footballers who played for the 22 clubs in England’s top division in the 1965-66 season. 

Those clubs were: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Blackpool, Burnley, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Man Utd, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottm Forest, Sheff Utd, Sheff Wed, Stoke, Sunderland, Tottenham, West Brom and West Ham.

2: First we established how many of those players have died to date (185 of 475) and then, via public (‘open source’) statements such as obituaries and funeral notices, recorded how many died from neurodegenerative diseases.

3: We then contacted the clubs, and the clubs’ former players’ associations, and in some cases individual living players, and asked about cases where the reported cause of death was unclear to date and had often been reported non-specifically as ‘after a long illness’. We also asked about players still living with dementia.

4: Multiple clubs, player associations and players’ relatives helped with guidance for accuracy. Some, entirely reasonably, said they knew of cases but did not want to share that, even confidentially.

5: We found that 185 of 475 players have died and that 79 (42%) died from or with neurodegenerative illness or conditions related to traumatic brain injury; and at least 25 of the surviving 290 players (or 8%) currently have dementia, although we know the figure is higher, just not how much higher.



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