Jimmy Geoghegan: Science tells us it's time to give heading the boot

In AUGUST 2020 the death took place of former soccer international Tommy Carroll. I was saddened to hear of his passing, a feeling compounded further when I learned how he was affected by dementia. He was 77.

When I heard about Tommy's passing it brought me back. Back to the early 1980s when I worked for a time as a barman in a public house in Harold's Cross - Flanagan's Greyhound Bar - which you will not be surprised to learn was, and I presume still is, right beside the local greyhound track.

One of the people who would regularly call into the bar was Tommy. He enjoyed a whiskey and a good laugh. When time allowed I would have a chat with him about his life as a professional footballer. He had then retired from the game and was clearly finding it difficult to re-adjust back to 'normal life,' whatever that is.

Tommy played for Shelbourne before he was signed in the 1960s by Ipswich Town, then a small, provincial club, managed by Bobby Robson, a young manager who had a big future in the game.

For a few years Tommy played for Ipswich before the club really took off and went on to claim some very big prizes indeed including the UEFA Cup and the FA Cup. Robson, of course, went on to manage England and a host of other big-time club sides.

Tommy signed for Birmingham City before returning home. He also played for the Republic of Ireland, 17 times between 1968 and '73. It was fascinating to hear his stories about when he travelled abroad with the national side; the antics the boys got up to, the banter and the craic.

Our paths went in different directions and I didn't hear about him for years - until the summer of 2020. Tommy is now part of a lengthy list of distinguished former footballers who were afflicted by dementia. Jack Charlton, Jeff Astle, Nobby Stiles, Celtic great Billy McNeill are others; players from another era who are believed to have contracted the disease from heading the ball, although as far as I'm aware there is no conclusive proof of that.

Tommy's passing brought to mind another former footballer, someone who I've known for years and who, thankfully, is very much hail and hearty and shall remain nameless.

He played soccer in the 1980s in the local league - the Mid-Meath League and later the Meath & District League (now the North East Football League) but felt he had to give up the game because he was getting headaches and dizzy episodes after matches. He put it down to heading the ball a lot.

Still a young man he hung up his boots. In hindsight - considering the science that has emerged since about the kind of trauma that can be afflicted on the brain from heading the ball - that was probably a very wise move. Based on his story it's difficult not to conclude that many people have been affected, in one way or another, by heading the ball in local leagues throughout the land.

Some time ago while standing beside a pitch reporting on a local soccer game I had cause to retrieve a ball that had crossed the sideline. I eagerly went after it to help warm myself up a little! I was struck by how hard the ball was. Rock hard. I wondered what it must be like to have to head that away when it descended from the sky. What kind of damage would it cause to someone?

Maybe time has come to ban heading in soccer altogether? The sad passing of people like Tommy Carroll and Jack Charlton, for a time at least, raised awareness about the possible negative effects of heading a ball.

However, there is a whole cohort of people who have played at grassroots level who did exactly the same. Unsung heroes, some of whom may end up having to pay a high price for their eagerness to get that ball away from the danger zone.