The world’s first adult football match with heading restrictions is set to take place on Sunday in a charity event that could prove to be a landmark moment for the future of the game.
The pilot match is being hosted by Spennymoor Town FC, currently competing in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football, and organised by charity Head for Change.
It will only allow headers in the penalty box for the first half – a foul will be given any time a player heads the ball outside the area – and then restrict all heading during the second half.
Several former professionals will take part in the match, which aims to show how 11-a-side football works with heading restrictions while continuing an “ongoing conversation about the safety of players”.
It comes less than two months after a ground-breaking study found “dreadful levels of dementia” and other neurodegenerative diseases among former players – with defenders at most risk. The scientist behind the study said Fifa, football’s world governing body, should consider introducing different formats of football where heading is banned.
Head for Change’s team on Sunday will be made up of former players who have connections with Middlesbrough FC, while a mix of Spennymoor Town and former professionals and semi-professional players will play for Team Solan, named after co-organiser the Solan Connor Fawcett Family Cancer Trust.
Dr Judith Gates, chair and co-founder of Head for Change, stressed that her charity is not calling for an outright ban on heading, which she said is a decision for football’s authorities to make after conducting their own trials.
But it is hoped that the fixture will be useful in showing what the game looks like and answer key questions such as how players bring the ball down from goal-kicks.
Both teams will compete for the Bill Gates Celebration Cup, named in honour of Dr Gates’s husband, a former Middlesbrough and Spennymoor Town player who now has a neurodegenerative condition.
Dr Gates said: “Bill and I were both school kids together at Spennymoor Grammar School, where he played for both the school and Spennymoor United. It’s held a very special place in his heart.
“It’s important to stress that neither of the charities are aiming to ban heading from the game, but what we recognise from the conversations that are going on amongst the press, at training grounds and in pubs is what will the game look like if we reduce heading.”
She added: “Head For Change is committed to protecting the players and protecting the game, and we believe the FA will be interested in the results we discover from the experiment. The area we are looking to raise money for is research, because we want to look at investigating not just the causes of sports related neurodegenerative disease, but look for a potential cure.”
England is the first country to impose heading limits on professional players, who from this season are restricted to 10 “higher force” headers per week in training as a response to the dementia crisis.
“Higher force” headers are those from a pass of more than 35 metres, crosses, corners and free-kicks. For amateurs, the FA’s guidance is that players should not practice more than 10 headers of any type per week.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3zDkMdt
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