Paying The Penalty

Alan Shearer investigates the potential link between football and dementia

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Could the repeated heading of a football be linked to the onset of dementia in later life? Alan Shearer is on a mission to find out in the BBC1 documentary Alan Shearer: Dementia, Football and Me.

A DANGEROUS GAME

For ex-footballer Shearer, who won the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and earned 63 England caps, it’s a subject that’s particularly close to home.

‘I was a pro footballer for 20 years,’ says the 47-year-old pundit, who also played for Southampton and Newcastle United. ‘I was taught to head a football, and practised sometimes over 100 times a day in training. Never ever did I think heading footballs would be dangerous for me.’

However, with the likes of Alf Ramsey, Jimmy Hill, Bob Paisley, John Charles and Nat Loft house all succumbing to dementia before they died, many people have been calling for urgent action.