There is no “safe number of times” a footballer can head the ball, the High Court has been told, amid a legal claim brought by several former players over brain injuries allegedly suffered during their careers.
Lawyers representing 33 former footballers and their families have said that even if a safe number can be identified, that has been exceeded because no level has ever been specified.
Twenty-three former professional footballers and the families of a further 10 who have died are bringing the legal action against the Football Association (FA), Football League Ltd, and the Football Association of Wales (FAW), which are all defending the claims.
The claimants include the family of former England midfielder and 1966 World Cup winner, Norbert “Nobby” Stiles, who died in 2020 after suffering from dementia and was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head.
Susan Rodway KC, representing the players and their families, told a preliminary hearing in London on Thursday that none of their experts can provide the court with a safe number of times a ball can be headed.
She said: “The way the case is now formed, we are saying there is no safe number of times a player can head the ball.
“Do they (defendants) agree that it is not safe, or can they put a number on it, do they have expert evidence?
“If that is the case, we say that the case continues but on the basis that the defendants will have exceeded even that safe level, unless they are going to say starkly that heading of the ball is safe, however much you do it.”
Ms Rodway added: “It is a question of what the defendant knew or ought to have known, and what they could have done to prevent.”
Lawyers for the FA claimed in written submissions that the players and their families now suggest that heading should have been banned from matches and training from the 1960s.
Martin Porter KC, representing the FA, said the claimants allege “heading is an ‘unnecessary’ part of the game of football”.
He also said they suggest that “since at least the 1960s it was known or ought to have been known that repeated heading of the ball was dangerous and foreseeably leads to permanent brain injury and that accordingly it should have been ‘gradually phased out and removed from match play and training’.”
“Consequently, the claimants’ new primary case in relation to heading appears to be that it should have been banned from matches and training from the 1960s,” Mr Porter said.
He added: “According to former professional players and their estates, either the FA should not have fielded a team in the 1966 World Cup, or they ought to have given them instructions not to head the ball.”
Lawyers for the claimants say they had not said or implied at any stage that heading should have been banned, but that their focus is on whether authorities knew of the risks and did not make players aware.
Judge Amanda Stevens, who was asked to rule on several preliminary matters at the hearing, was also told there are currently 90 additional male players who have entered into agreements to pursue their claims.
