Хөлбөмбөгчин Нобби Стайлсын тархины гэмтэл нь түүний карьерынхаа туршид бөмбөгийг олон тоогоор мөргөсөнтэй шууд холбоотой болохыг шүүх эмнэлгийн шинжилгээгээр тогтоов.
Английн шигшээ багийн бүрэлдэхүүнд 1966 оны Дэлхийн аварга болсон Нобби Стайлс 17 жилийн карьерынхаа хугацаанд дор хаяж 136,000 удаа бөмбөг мөргөсөн нь тархины архаг гэмтэл (CTE) үүсэх гол шалтгаан болжээ. Шинжилгээ хийсэн мэргэжилтэн, доктор Даниел дю Плесси уг өвчин нь Альцгеймер өвчин хүндрэхэд нөлөөлж, улмаар түүнийг нас барахад хүргэсэн гэдгийг нотлов. Стайлсын хүү Жон Стайлс аавынхаа бэлтгэлийн үеэр өдөрт 40-50 удаа бөмбөг мөргөдөг байсныг дурдаж, хөлбөмбөгийн холбоодыг тамирчдын аюулгүй байдалд илүү анхаарал хандуулахыг уриалсан юм.
Манчестер Юнайтед болон Английн шигшээ багийн домогт тоглогч 2020 онд 78 насандаа таалал төгссөн билээ. Энэхүү асуудалтай холбогдуулан Манчестер хотын ахлах титэмт шүүгч Элисон Мач ирээдүйд гарч болзошгүй эрсдэлээс урьдчилан сэргийлэх тайланг Английн хөлбөмбөгийн холбоо (FA) болон Боловсролын яаманд илгээхээр болсон байна.
Өдгөө олон тооны хуучин тоглогчид болон тэдний ар гэрийнхэн хөлбөмбөгийн холбоодыг тамирчдын эрүүл мэндийг хамгаалахад хайхрамжгүй хандсан хэмээн шүүхэд хандаад байна. Хэдийгээр хүүхдийн хөлбөмбөгт бөмбөг мөргөхийг хязгаарлах арга хэмжээ авч эхэлсэн ч насанд хүрэгчдийн түвшинд энэ төрлийн гэмтэл, эрсдэлийг бууруулах ажил хангалтгүй байгааг мэргэжилтнүүд шүүмжилж байна.
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World Cup winner Nobby Stiles suffered a progressive brain disease from heading a football at least 136,000 times in his career, an inquest heard.
Stiles, who was capped 28 times by England and made nearly 400 appearances for Manchester United, died in 2020, aged 78, after a number of years with advanced dementia and a brain injury known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
His family has been campaigning for the football authorities to do more to protect footballers from CTE and on Wednesday a coroner said she would be filing a Prevention of Future Death report to highlight the dangers of repeatedly heading a ball.
Alison Mutch, senior coroner for south Manchester, said her report would be sent to England’s Football Association (FA) as well as the Department of Education, dealing with the schools system in the United Kingdom.
“I’m entirely satisfied that the reason he (Stiles) developed CTE was because of repeatedly heading a ball during the course of his career,” she said. “Without repeatedly heading a ball, it is unlikely he would have developed it.”
Referencing the fact that it was the same day England were playing Argentina in a World Cup semi-final, Mutch also acknowledged Stiles as a national sporting hero. “Many of us remember him because of 1966,” she said. “It feels quite strange to be having this conversation on a day like today.”
Stiles won the World Cup with England in 1966 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
She added: “To many people, Mr Stiles was a football legend and a member of the last (England) team to win a World cup. He was proud of that history and I’m sure if he was here today he would be wishing them (England) well and hoping this was the year they did it again.”
The inquest was told that Stiles – fondly remembered for his jig on the Wembley pitch after England had beaten Germany in the 1966 World Cup final – may have headed a football, at a conservative estimate, around 136,000 times in his 17-year playing career. Yet it was also mentioned during the three-hour hearing that it may have been significantly higher.
Dr Daniel du Plessis, a neuropathology expert who examined Stiles’ brain, told the inquest there could be no dispute that repeatedly heading a ball could cause CTE. “That is a fact,” he said.
According to the testimony of Du Plessis, Stiles had CTE in “a very advanced form (of) high-stage disease” that would almost certainly have contributed to his deterioration via Alzheimer’s disease and death.
Asked by the coroner if he thought heading a ball was the probable cause of Stiles’ brain injury, the doctor replied: “I would go even further than that. I’m quite convinced that heading the football as many times (as he did) has caused his CTE.”
The inquest also heard evidence from Stiles’ son, John, who said he had talked to former United players Alex Stepney and Johnny Giles to find out more about the training routines at the Cliff, the club’s old practice ground, during the relevant era.
“In a game, the most a player will head the ball is ten times,” said Stiles Jr. “But I know for a fact that when my dad was training he would head the ball 30, 40 or 50 times a day.
“At a conservative estimate, it would be 40 times a day, training five days a week, playing ten months a season. If you add all that together, I would estimate he headed the ball 136,000 times.”
“Unfortunately that was to have a profound impact on him,” the corner said in her findings. “At the time he probably had no idea (he was damaging himself)… he wouldn’t have given any thought to any consequences.”
Stiles played as a centre-half and defensive midfielder, winning the 1968 European Cup final with United, and spending his final years living with his wife, Kay, just a mile from the Old Trafford stadium, until he had to be taken into a care home.
His son has previously stated that football “killed” his father, describing it as “ongoing scandal,”and runs the Football Families for Justice group, which is warning about the dangers of repeatedly heading a ball and demanding the football authorities do more to tackle the issue.
Speaking at the inquest, an emotional Stiles Jr –a former professional footballer for Leeds United, Doncaster Rovers and Vancouver Whitecaps – explained how there was “an impending feeling of doom within the family” as his father’s health deteriorated, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Outside the coroner’s court in Stockport, he later spoke of his fears that there were be “thousands of other inquests” to come and criticised the players’ union, the Professional Footballers’ Association, for being “nowhere to be seen.”
The PFA has been approached for comment byThe Athletic.
Stiles, who also played for Middlesbrough and Preston North End, eventually sold his World Cup medal after the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s kicked in. This was done, his son explained, to fund his own medical care, recalling how his father suffered a “terrible period” of anxiety and depression, as well as memory loss, before the illness left him needing permanent care.
The inquest took place at a time when dozens of former footballers and families are suing the FA, the Football Association of Wales and the English Football League over claims they were “negligent and in breach of their duty of care.”
In March, lawyers for the English FA told the High Court it had “not been established by science” that heading a ball or “occasional” concussion could lead to permanent brain damage.
Stiles is among a number of high-profile cases, including ex-England international Jeff Astle and former Scotland centre-half Gordon McQueen, whose deaths have led to inquests directly linking their CTE to repeatedly heading a ball.
Michael Rawlinson KC, a barrister representing the Stiles family, invited the coroner at Wednesday’s inquest to “write to the FA to ask, ‘What are you going to do about this?’”
There was a need, Rawlinson said, for precautionary measures to be put in place to prevent others from suffering the same ordeal. “For schoolchildren, it’s changing,” he added, referencing restrictions on young players heading a ball. “For adults, there’s less evidence of that.”
