Just read an article on Jim Plunkett (super bowl winning QB) that played football in the 70's and early 80's. 18 surgeries. 2 artificial knees. 1 artificial shoulder. Takes 13 pills every day to deal with crippling pain. He probable has CTE. Life after football isn't all that great for many players. This is becoming an all too familiar story for a lot of former football players. Topic now shifts to soccer-- can we say without a doubt that players that have retired from soccer are in better mental and physical condition years later than ex-NFL players? I'd say yes- what do you think?
How big a sample size do we have of retired players who played a lot of their career in MLS? NFL rosters are much larger. I think if soccer had as high a CTE rate as football (a hypothetical, I'm not saying soccer has that high a rate), not as many people would find out. In addition to soccer not being as popular as other American leagues, NBCSN has showed that Premier League clubs have had insufficient treatment of possible concussions. The fact that clubs only get three substitutions could cause more concussed players to keep playing. Unfortunately CTE can only be diagnosed after a person dies, and not many players who have played in MLS have died. A player who hypothetically was 40 in 1996 would be 61 now and hopefully still alive.
Yeah simple deduction of how each game is played would leave one to believe soccer is safer. But the true test, as you mention is when people retire and what their health is like 20+ years down the road. Soccer has been played on this continent and across the globe for 100+ years-- if there was a problem with the health of players after retirement would we hear about it by now?
I would say that being safer than football might be a low bar to shoot for. If brain trauma becomes enough of an issue to significantly alter football culture in the U.S., I wouldn't assume that soccer will in turn profit.
I'd say yes. A few players have retired due to concussions. Ross Paule and Taylor Twellman come to mind.
I'm sure the head to head/body collisions that could cause trauma.concussions in most cases are pretty clear to point out in soccer. But I'm not sure about all the different type of ball to head collisions in soccer. I would like to see a study on that.
Dumb question-- could soccer ever eliminate headers from the game that are not in the 18? I watch a lot of soccer primarily USMNT, MLS and some Premier--- the heading of the ball at midfield provides not much benefit (IMO). The players would be better having it bounce off their chest, and controlling it from there. I see what I call a lot of "useless headers" around the midfield that could result in a better option for the player if he did the above. Thoughts?
Problem isn't the ones that are forced to retire because of concussions. Being forced out if the soort entirely is the most extreme result. There are quite a few MLS players that are likely to have issues with CTE later in life even though they've played a full career. As an example, Chad Marshall hasn't been forced to retire, but he's had a number of concussions and issues associated to that. I'd imagine he's going to have CTE symptoms later in life...
Depends entirely on your era. When Jeff Astle died 15 years ago, he was suffering from a degenerative brain condition that a neurosurgeon later considered to be CTE. All those "minor" traumas - heading the old leather football, especially when wet - added up and I'm pretty sure his death - which came from choking - was ruled as death by industrial injury. This is why they have a campaign, led by Justice for Jeff and the Jeff Astle Foundation with the slogan, "if in doubt, keep 'em out."
If grid iron football takes a hit because of concussions and CTE, soccer is next.. Out of all the other sports played in this country, soccer has the second highest rate of concussions among high schoolers. While grid iron certainly has significantly more incidents, it is a huge mistake to assume that soccer will escape unscathed if parents start to avoid grid iron because of concussions..
It would certainly reduce the number of injuries caused by repeated brain trauma caused by headers, but if you are going to eliminate headers from outside the 18, why not eliminate it entirely? IMHO, the game would benefit from the elimination of the mostly useless awrial crosses into the 18 from the sidelines and a more ground focused approach..
Some interesting articles I found this week: https://www.wired.com/story/brain-trauma-scientists-turn-their-attention-to-soccer/ http://syndication.bleacherreport.c...ncern-over-head-injuries-in-football.amp.html
Even with heading soccer is safer than football. Remove the heading and the difference between the two sports is like night and day in terms of getting a subconcussive hit. By the nature of how football is played leads to constant subconcussive damage to the brain. Think about Mike Webster who played OL-- his head would constantly be jarred back by a defender in the trenches. In soccer heading the ball should be looked at and possibly removed. It could make the game safer and relatively unchanged versus removing the contact in football.
That's why I noted that grid iron has significantly more incidents than soccer.. The main problem with eliminating headers from soccer is that the rest of the world is basically ignoring the problem right now.. Even more so than the NFL.. The NFL is at least to the point where they are "acknowledging" that it is an issue and at least faking that they have a concussion protocol. Soccer isn't even to that point. If a league even has concussion protocols, they rarely, if ever, follow them. I've seen several players take serious knocks to the head and even lose consciousness, taken off the field, and then several minutes later seeing the player go back into the game. But yes, eliminating headers from the game would be huge in reducing the number of soccer players that have CTE, but until the top leagues and FIFA actually acknowledge that it is an issue, nothing is going to happen...
Even without looking at numbers I think the optics of soccer could potentially put it in danger if the concussion problem continues. Anecdotally I've found it pretty crazy just how much casuals associate heading the ball as a definitive feature of the game. If football is toppled in the U.S. I agree soccer will be hit as well.
Do ex-soccer players around the globe suffer with dementia, Alzheimer's and mental issues that we know is running rampant with ex-NFL'ers? Just curious what we are looking at here.... I'm not talking about during the weighted down ball of soccer's yesteryear. But there should be ample evidence of this coming out, over the last 30/40 years (lighter ball) and by the sheer number of players who have played the game in the world if this was a big problem. I've seen a few that have had it but nothing in comparison to the NFL.
I'm not sure why you keep making the comparison with NFL. The fact that soccer's rates of CTE and associated illnesses are less than grid iron's is not going to inoculate it from any impacts the grid iron experiences. If anything, the fact that grid iron is getting as much attention as it is makes it more likely that soccer gets regulated in the US as well..
That's not what I'm getting at. We know football is a problem because of all the studies, people committing suicide, etc. I'm simply asking does anyone have any articles or knowledge of any soccer players with similar characteristics after retirement? If it makes it easier to understand just ignore the top paragraph and answer the question in this one.
Damages form heading the ball could be easily reduced be decreasing the ball's air pressure. Even in school and they are rock solid, there's no need for that. I've seen that in Uruguayan national team matches.
In Uruguay, the only problems I've seen with former professional football players are economic, not biological.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/nov/12/football.stevenmorris https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ementia-from-blows-to-the-head-study-suggests
James Jaramillo from UCLA had a career ending head injury 10 years ago. You can find his story at Www.instagram.com/jjsoccerdrills