Ex Middlesbrough defender and families backing heading campaign

Head Safe Football is launching the Government petition with the message: “Protect footballers’ brains. Think Head Safe: reduce heading in training.”

The charity says football must move beyond shock and sympathy when former players develop dementia, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and other brain diseases.

It is calling for action to protect current and future players.

Head Safe Football was launched in Ferryhill. Pictured are Nick and Judith Gates, son and wife of Bill Gates who played for Boro, and Hayley McQueen, Sky Sports presenter and daughter of footballer Gordon McQueen (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Head Safe Football says research has found CTE in the brains of professional and amateur footballers, including young people.

It also points to evidence of increased neurological disease risks among footballers and recent US research that found CTE in at least one in four deceased NFL players.

More than five million children and 10 million adults play football in England, so the charity says the issue reaches far beyond the professional game.

It wants football to move “from shock to action”, “from sympathy to prevention”, “from blame to responsibility” and “from looking backwards to protecting the future”.

The campaign is not calling for heading to be removed from football.

Instead, Head Safe Football wants to reduce repetitive heading in training, where exposure can be limited.

Families of five former Middlesbrough players and coaches affected by sports-related brain disease will be among the first to sign the petition.

They are the families of Bill Gates, Willie Maddren, Hugh McIlmoyle, Gordon McQueen and Nobby Stiles.

Tina White, widow of Goff White, who was identified as the first non-league player to die with CTE, will sign for grassroots players and their families.

Former Middlesbrough, Manchester United and England defender Gary Pallister will also support the campaign.

The group says: “We cannot change what happened to those who came before us, but we can decide what happens next.”

Head Safe Football has five demands for the Government.

They include a parliamentary debate on the petition, making “Think Head Safe: reduce heading in training” a national slogan and recognising CTE caused by repetitive head impacts as a public-health issue.

The charity also wants the Government to work with sports governing bodies to cut heading in training through policy and accredited coach education.

Its fifth demand is for the Department for Education to include brain-health education and HeadSAFE in teacher training and PE.

The petition will launch at Head Safe Football’s ‘Lunching & Launching’ event at Middleton Hall Retirement Village in Middleton St. George on September 9.

The event starts at 12.30pm, and attendees are invited to get involved.

Head Safe Football says: “Tomorrow’s players need today’s voices.”