Entity that sets football rules is considering banning headers in children’s games

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“The ideal would be no headbutts in football.”

One of the greatest Brazilian authorities on the subject, Renato Anghinah, a neurologist at Hospital das Clínicas and a professor in neurology at USP (University of São Paulo), knows that this is a radical opinion. But he also realizes that the sport is heading towards the discussion about the impact of head-on collisions during matches. Especially among the youngest.

This debate has grown stronger in the last two months. In July, the English Federation banned headbutts in games by children under 12 years old. Earlier this month, the Ifab (International Football Association Board) announced the approval of a study period to call a two-shot foul every time a boy or girl in that age group heads the ball.

According to the entity that regulates the rules of football, they even thought about direct fouls or, in case of bids inside the area, penalty. But this was considered a very severe penalty.

The concern is that repeated head banging, especially in children with the body still in formation, could result in future neurological problems.

“It is proven that football players are 3.5 times more likely to have dementia than the general population. The likelihood of Alzheimer’s is five times higher. Motor diseases are four times more likely,” says William Stewart, a professor at the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and responsible for some of the main research on the topic.

The experience will still be applied in grassroots championships, as is customary every time Ifab wants to test a rule change in the sport. But this could be the beginning of the debate on the subject due to the number of former players who suffer, after the end of their careers, with dementia.

In Brazil, the best-known case was that of Bellini, captain of the 1958 World Cup. He died in 2014 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Posthumous examination showed that he was actually suffering from CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a disease associated with repeated blows to the head.

In the United States, parents’ associations made demands that young people be banned from heading.

“This concern increases when players are children because their body, brain and motor skills are developing, and they may not have enough physical strength and experience to minimize the risks,” explains the Ifab statement.

It may occur slowly, but the study is the beginning of a movement. These are tests that can lead to a discussion about one of the pillars of football: aerial ball throws.

“The problem is not the act of heading the ball. Heading provides shocks. As the game today is more physical, everyone is marked, when the ball goes in the direction of the player, who is behind and will lose the play goes up and hits opponent’s head to get in the way. This type of move has to be punished like the cart from behind”, defends Anghinah.

The controversy is not new and has become more intense because of the concern of the NFL, the professional American football league, with the matter. Helmet-to-helmet strikes are now considered fouls. Successive ETC cases have made protecting players’ heads a priority.

“Football could do a lot more. Athletes are exposed to hundreds of avoidable headbutts. We have to reduce that risk. That headbutting is an immediate problem is already established,” adds Stewart.

Any definitive change must be approved at the Ifab congress, an entity of which FIFA is a part. There is no deadline for this or the immediate expectation of testing in older age categories.

The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) does not organize under-12 tournaments. The FPF (São Paulo Football Federation) has sub-11 and sub-13 state teams. When consulted on the matter by the report, the federation did not respond until the publication of this text.

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