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With further discussion over links to dementia as a possible outcome of heading footballs, there's something I haven't personally heard mentioned (perhaps that's just me). I would have thought it an imperative that some comparisons be made between footballs these chaps would have been playing with, probably from childhood in the 40's & 50's and the far lighter modern ball.
These things weren't poly...whatever coated, aero-dynamically state of the art sports equipment. They were lumps of inflated pig, sometimes with laces. They weighed a tonne by comparison. Look at the boots they wore. Matchday balls would've obviously been the best available, but what did they train with during the week? I have some idea, because as a kid I ended up being given a ball that had come straight from Preston's old, Willow Farm training ground. It had heavy leather padding, but was thinly coated in a paint-like substance, which gradually peeled or wore off. That's when water would get in & make the thing exponentially heavier. You could waterproof to some degree with Dubbin (that was a greasy mess), but often as not you ended up with a soggy, heavy football. The ball was in nothing like pristine condition when I got it, but had been used just prior for training purposes.

Even when I was at junior school in the 70's, a teacher brought out this bag of footballs & I thought WTF? They were maybe half-two-thirds the size of a normal ball, with fucking nasty thick, criss-cross laces. Looked like they were from WW1. The other point being, that unless we regress, heading is a far less integral part of the game than it once was (does that factor in?) and lots of old people sadly suffer with dementia. Old bodies can be repaired, old minds can't. I've no skin in the game, having done all the heading I'm likely to do and I'd never suggest that heading anything is necessarily a good idea, but let there not be hasty decisions made, on the back of some recent unfortunate news. The scenario today would appear to be more than somewhat different. Does the science take into account the history? I don't know. Do you know? If so, contact me via CB Radio or Fax.

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3 hours ago, KingofSports said:

With further discussion over links to dementia as a possible outcome of heading footballs, there's something I haven't personally heard mentioned (perhaps that's just me). I would have thought it an imperative that some comparisons be made between footballs these chaps would have been playing with, probably from childhood in the 40's & 50's and the far lighter modern ball.
These things weren't poly...whatever coated, aero-dynamically state of the art sports equipment. They were lumps of inflated pig, sometimes with laces. They weighed a tonne by comparison. Look at the boots they wore. Matchday balls would've obviously been the best available, but what did they train with during the week? I have some idea, because as a kid I ended up being given a ball that had come straight from Preston's old, Willow Farm training ground. It had heavy leather padding, but was thinly coated in a paint-like substance, which gradually peeled or wore off. That's when water would get in & make the thing exponentially heavier. You could waterproof to some degree with Dubbin (that was a greasy mess), but often as not you ended up with a soggy, heavy football. The ball was in nothing like pristine condition when I got it, but had been used just prior for training purposes.

Even when I was at junior school in the 70's, a teacher brought out this bag of footballs & I thought WTF? They were maybe half-two-thirds the size of a normal ball, with fucking nasty thick, criss-cross laces. Looked like they were from WW1. The other point being, that unless we regress, heading is a far less integral part of the game than it once was (does that factor in?) and lots of old people sadly suffer with dementia. Old bodies can be repaired, old minds can't. I've no skin in the game, having done all the heading I'm likely to do and I'd never suggest that heading anything is necessarily a good idea, but let there not be hasty decisions made, on the back of some recent unfortunate news. The scenario today would appear to be more than somewhat different. Does the science take into account the history? I don't know. Do you know? If so, contact me via CB Radio or Fax.

I do know about this, can I send you a telegram (not the app, via a telegraph) with the details?

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Pretty much guaranteed a play-off spot for the 2022 World Cup. Cue me furiously googling "Are you allowed to drink alcohol in Qatar?"

Seriously can't be arsed with Covid and how its ruining my international trips. I should be getting pissed in Popworld or Walkabout in Cardiff now, not drinking tea in front of the news.

Edited by garynysmon
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