WEST NEWBURY, Mass. — Soccer without headers? My team has experienced it for the last two months, and we may not be ahead of the curve for long.
A new study by the University of Stirling in Scotland has found that a single session of heading the ball can significantly affect a player’s brain function and memory for 24 hours. Tens of millions of people have played, and continue to play, the game without health problems. But as hints of evidence of a link between even small, subconcussive impacts and long-term damage begin to accumulate, it is time to at least consider the possibility that the leaders of the world’s most popular sport may eventually determine that heading is too much of a medical and legal risk to allow.