Researc reporting there is no link between the disease & heading a football

Researchers on a study looking at the impact of head injuries on former footballers - one supported by the Football Association and England manager Gareth Southgate - have been accused of a 'conflict of interest' and 'marking their own homework' after their initial findings were published.

The Health and Ageing Data in the Game of Football (HEADING) study assessed the link between exposure to heading a football, other impacts to the head, and concussions with cognitive function among 199 ex-male professionals in England aged over 50.

In its first reported findings - which were published last month and are yet to be peer reviewed - the researchers said: 'This study generally does not support an association between exposure to heading a football and poorer cognitive function among former male professional players.'

It added: 'An association between the number of concussions sustained and poorer cognitive function was present, although the effect size is relatively small.'

Many leading neurological scientists across the world are of the opposite opinion.

Former England internationals Sir Bobby Charlton, his brother Jack, Nobby Stiles and Jeff Astle were all diagnosed with forms of dementia prior to their tragic passings.

Astle died in 2002 aged 59 with early-onset dementia. A coroner recorded his cause of death as industrial disease owing to the repeated heading of a ball.

In 2020, Stiles' family told Mail Sport his brain had been severely damaged by his on-field career after he had suffered from dementia. Stiles' brain was donated for analysis to a study led by Dr Willie Stewart. In 2019, research led by Stewart found ex-footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched