Ban on children heading in football practice ‘could store up problems down the line’
As football associations in the UK move to ban heading among children 11 or younger in football training, there are growing calls for the same precautions to be implemented in Australia.
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It’s the issue worrying parents around the world, and sparking widespread bans for young children from heading footballs for fear of brain damage.
But experts are warning that simply outlawing heading in children’s training sessions, however well-intentioned, could just be storing up problems for when they’re older.
The decision by the English, Welsh and Scottish football associations this week to ban heading among children 11 or younger in training — but not matches — comes four years after the US implemented a similar rule, and it has sparked calls for Australia to follow suit.
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It follows two major studies in the past 18 months, one in the US and one in the UK, linking football with brain damage, and some doctors have called for a precautionary ban on children heading balls at all.
But Dr Damien McKay, a paediatrician who works at the Sydney Children’s Hospital and is head doctor for the Sydney Swans Academy, warned choosing age 11 as a cut-off for a ban was an arbitrary figure and not based on evidence.
“You can see the rationale behind a ban, to reduce exposure in an at-risk section of the population, but we need research behind it,” he said.
“While it’s good that football associations at a national level are thinking about this, you have to consider the whole picture.
“You wouldn’t want to implement a rule change and not measure the effect — the risk is you push the risk on to 12-year-olds, who haven’t had the opportunity to learn and practise.
“Because there is good evidence that your technique can affect whether you get symptoms.”
So far Football Federation Australia has said only that it is “monitoring” the situation. But the National Curriculum that most coaches work from already warns to introduce heading in junior groups only with specially designed balls, said Football NSW technical director Warren Grieve.
“Since 2012 the curriculum has said that heading should always be considered as potentially dangerous in the younger age groups,” he said.
“The ‘game training phase’ for 13-17-year-olds is where heading should be included into training in a controlled manner.
“If it is introduced before then, only super-light, specially made footballs or equivalents should be use to practise the technique of heading.”
That’s the key, says Andrew Morris, technical manager at Football Canterbury – a very gentle introduction to the art of heading, so the strongest part of the head is used and much of the power comes from the whole body.
“In a limited capacity, you can start with eight-year-olds and the coach standing a couple of feet away just gently lobbing a ball,” he said.
“It’s about learning and teaching them to use their waist, their neck, striking the ball rather than letting it him them.
“You might do that four times then park it for a while. Of course we have a duty of care, but the overarching philosophy is commonsense.”
Dr McKay queries what happens if, as is the case with the ban on training in the UK, it’s still allowed in games.
“What do you do when the ball is in the air?” he said. “Are you going to change the rules and say the ball has to bounce?
“Learning how to do it with the right technique will help because the ball will occasionally go up in the air.”