Sporting impact

Will football follow rugby from the pitch to the court when it comes to brain injuries? Football’s Bill Gates, the 1970s Middlesborough defensive stalwart, may not be as well-known as his Microsoft co-founder’s namesake, but in common with him, his legacy could have a profound and lasting impact.

Following his struggle with dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disease associated with repetitive head impacts, his wife, Dr Judith Gates, founded the campaigning charity Head Safe Football. It aims to raise awareness of neurodegenerative disease caused by heading in football and implement changes that will protect against CTE.

Continued campaigning

Dr Gates previously called for change as founder of charity Head for Change, co-founded with Alix Popham who is one of almost 300 players currently suing rugby’s governing bodies in England and Wales for compensation for brain injuries sustained while a player.

A number of former footballers, including the family of the late Nobby Stiles, are bringing similar actions against football governing bodies. As the case reached the High Court, it was reported that up to 75 players could become involved. This begs the question: will football see the same level of mass litigation as rugby?

In short, it is possible, but many footballers’ cases may be harder to make. 

The age of the former players is the first major obstacle. Many of the rugby players suffering from brain disease are men still in their 30s and 40s. Former footballers with brain disease tend to be men in their 70s and 80s.

While research now shows higher rates of brain disease, such as dementia and Alzheimer's, among ex-footballers, it may be difficult to show in individual cases that such diseases were caused by heading the ball, rather than it having naturally arisen as they aged. As such diseases are much rarer in younger men, it would seem easier to link early onset of disease among rugby players to external influences such as an impact sport.

Neurological discoveries

The rugby players reported as suffering from brain disease played across decades – but many of them as recently as the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. By contrast, many of the affected footballers were playing in the 1960s and 1970s. The world’s, and indeed sport’s, understanding of head injuries has come a long way in the last 30 years.

It is clearly harder to prove that sporting bodies in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s ought to have been aware of the risk of head injuries to players, compared with proving that they ought to have been aware within the last few decades. 

Obvious concussions and head injuries are reasonably common in a collision sport such as rugby. They have always been considered injuries requiring treatment, though it is only recent revelations that have shown the gravity of them in the long term. On field concussions are less common in football. However, there is an understanding in the latest studies that repetitive heading of the ball can cause subtle brain injuries.

While those representing footballers have argued that recent safeguards constitute an ‘admission of liability’ for failures in the past;  success will likely turn on what evidence they have to back up the claim that the dangers were known to the association for decades.

Attributing responsibility

One point in the footballers’ favour is the size and professionalism of the game compared to rugby. Although dwarfed by the number in England, there are still hundreds of professional footballers in Scotland. The game has been professional since 1893, whereas Rugby Union only since 1995.  The longstanding professionalism of football, the money that came with that, and the sheer volume of players compared to rugby may make it easier to argue that associations and clubs failed in their duties to protect players and employees. Should organisations at the cutting edge of professional sport have known and done more?

The tragic case of Scottish rugby player Siobhan Cattigan shows that these issues are not limited to male athletes. Some research suggests that women and girls may be more at risk of brain injuries in sport than men. The historically smaller scale of professional women’s football compared to the men’s game means that there are likely to be far fewer affected players to bring cases; but, as the female game grows in popularity and professionalism, governing bodies will face the same issues as those governing the men’s game.

Whether or not long-retired footballers can bring successful claims against associations and their clubs is very hard to say. 

What can be said with certainty, however, is that now the link between head injuries and sport has been established, both rugby and football associations have a responsibility to protect current and future players. Recent rule changes and studies are a good start, but over the longer term, prevention must be the name of the game.

Daniel McGinn is a personal injury specialist at Thorntons Solicitors.