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Heading to be banned?


FindernRam

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There is a certain momentum building to accept that continual heading of the ball or head to head contact with opponents is a really bad thing, leading to dementia and other nasties.

Some schools are already talking about banning it for under 16's.

If heading were to be banned in the adult game would you still watch it?

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2 hours ago, FindernRam said:

If heading were to be banned in the adult game would you still watch it?

What do you mean, if?

In case you hadn't noticed we've been trialing this on a smaller scale here at Derby for the past 2 seasons, banning any of our players from heading the ball in our own or the opposition's box. The good news is that when the law comes into full effect we'll be, if you'll excuse the pun, well ahead of the game.

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2 hours ago, FindernRam said:

There is a certain momentum building to accept that continual heading of the ball or head to head contact with opponents is a really bad thing, leading to dementia and other nasties.

Some schools are already talking about banning it for under 16's.

If heading were to be banned in the adult game would you still watch it?

This is good for us surely? If opposition teams can't head the ball in from crosses anymore we will only concede one, maybe two goals a season.

 

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Not sure I fully agree with all the data on this topic.

Firstly, it's a study on the professional game, mainly stemming from those competing decades ago whereby the ball was completely different. Much heavier, and much more likely to do damage.

Secondly, there's nothing saying it's the ball that's done the damage. Again, the game was a lot more physical and elbows, clashes of heads etc were more prevalent than they are today - even though they still happen.

Finally, kids, whether they go onto be professional or not, have always played football and always headed a ball. I'm not sure how the research in this area has actually been compiled. 

If you fully go into the detail, it also shows that professionals have been much less likely to suffer heart issues and even cancer, so even if you absolutely believe that you do have a higher risk then there's a positive trade off occurring regardless.

Now, putting in a "no headers" rule for young kids wouldn't be ridiculous, but not for this reason. It would promote better technical footballers from a younger age, and less of the kid that can just boot it the furthest. However, removing it from the game entirely would be entirely knee-jerk.

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They won’t ban it outright. They’re talking about bringing in lighter balls for training and getting technique right, or curtailing the amount of training allowed in a week. It’s not the heading in games that does it, that’s a comparatively small amount, but the constant punishment taken by the brain through repetitive training. 

Hypothetically, though, if they did ban it, how would they enforce it? Treat it like handball? So you could give penalty away by having a ball smacked in your face. 

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Thats just stupid, how long has football been going with heading balls i understand that its not great for you but the balls are lighter these days in the past like headering bricks i can understand! (even tho bucko would) but the balls are so much lighter now and cushioned theres no need to ban it! My 4 year old headers air floater balls already as i dont want him to be one of them kids who are scared to header a ball! Theres alot of skill in heading a ball and it will affect alot of taller players becoming professional as you will end up just having small fast players playing coz thats all your will need it be like a 5 aside game it will totally kill football! a big no from me 

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The thing about the ball weight is misleading. The energy the ball has is essentially what went into it at the point it was kicked and allowing for a loss due to drag in the air is what it has when it hits the head. Modern players are bigger/stronger so can put more energy into the ball. Therefore the damage inflicted is actually greater than years ago.

Head/elbow to head is greater for the same reason.

Amateur boxers wear head guards already so they recognise the danger, bit perverse the pros don't.

But so far (ignoring some justified sarcasm) no-one answered the question would you still go if it was banned?

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49 minutes ago, FindernRam said:

But so far (ignoring some justified sarcasm) no-one answered the question would you still go if it was banned?

Yes - of course. Heading the ball makes no difference at all. It will make corners more interesting and some crosses - might even mean we score a couple from corners, but that's about the only difference there will be.

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22 hours ago, Coconut said:

If you banned heading in football you'd also have to ban punches to the head in boxing, or preferably abolish the entire 'sport' altogether. It'd be massively hyopcritical not to.

On consideration, I'm all for it!

People don't get hurt as bad in boxing. Every football match I watch there are players writhing in agony. I think there's more contradictions and irony in football than boxing. 

When it comes to talking poo I think football is way ahead of other sports. 

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