Football must create a care fund to support hundreds of ex-pros with dementia and brain injuries, the players’ union has warned.
The Professional Footballers’ Association launched a consultation yesterday urging the families of former players diagnosed with dementia or who have symptoms to come forward. The move will increase pressure on the FA and the Premier League to give urgently needed financial support to former footballers and their families.
It comes after Blackburn Rovers fans held a fundraiser for Tony Parkes – assistant manager when they won the Premiership in 1994/95 – as his family are struggling to pay rising care fees. PFA chief executive Maheta Molango said: “Former footballers and their families need help right now. These conversations need to result in tangible support and, crucially, significant funding.
“It’s our responsibility to challenge the industry to ensure the wellbeing of players past and present is being protected.” The PFA hopes to convince the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council to class chronic traumatic encephalopathy as an industrial disease so families can claim benefits.
CTE was previously known as boxer’s brain and is caused by repeated blows to the head. Ex-England captain and Manchester City defender Dave Watson, 75, was one of the first to get a CTE diagnosis while alive. He is leading a benefits test case that could let hundreds of players follow.
His wife Penny said: “This is an essential step that will demonstrate the extent of the problem and the challenges being faced by families. The evidence is clear and can’t be ignored any longer.”
Concerns about the safety of heading footballs have circulated for decades. But no action was taken until an inquest in 2002 found former England striker Jeff Astle had died of CTE. He was just 59 when he choked to death.
Jeff’s daughter Dawn and widow Laraine have led a 20-year campaign for the sport to protect players from brain injuries and support those with them. Many players are forced to rely on fans’ charity to pay care costs, though the PFA does provide some support.
Dawn, who agreed to lead a project on neurodegenerative diseases for the PFA, said: “My focus has always been on fighting to secure substantial, long-term support for families caring for loved ones with a neurodegenerative disease. The duty of care towards players rests not just with the union but the entire football industry.”
It comes less than a week after an inquest ruled ex-Welsh star Keith Pontin, 64, was killed by brain injuries as a result of years spent heading footballs. The Mirror previously reported more than 600 players have dementia.
Blackburn star Parkes can no longer remember his late wife Eileen or helping the club win the Premier League in 1995, their finest moment. But fans have not forgotten his 39 years of service to Rovers as a player, coach and caretaker manager.
Earlier this year they launched an appeal, raising more than £15,000 in four weeks to help fund the round-the-clock care Tony needs, which costs £4,000 per month. His family feared they would soon run out of money to cover his care home fees.
With their savings all gone, the only financial asset that remained was the family home, where his daughter Natalie lives with her two young children. Primary school teacher Natalie said: “He doesn’t remember my mum and I’m not sure he understands what daughter means but he still knows me.”
She said she was eternally grateful for the “kindness of strangers”. She added: “Dad loved his club and he loved his fans. Thank you to everyone who donated, from the bottom of my heart. However, I worry how we will fund his care long term. It would be tragic to take Dad out of a place where he is settled and receiving the care he needs.”
Despite calls for a dementia care fund, there is still no support from the sport’s governing bodies, clubs, or stars, leaving many ex-footballers to rely on fans’ charity.
A year ago, Hull City supporters raised £30,000 to prevent the late striker Chris Chilton’s son Gary selling his own home to pay his father’s care bills. Queens Park Rangers fans have also raised thousands to help England legend and dementia sufferer Stan Bowles.
