“When Nobby Stiles won the World Cup, he didn’t know he would lose the memory.”
That is a caption on a harrowing new video which forms part of the “Unforgettable Moments” campaign supported by Head for Change - a UK-based charity committed to positive brain health.
The video, created by the Leith agency, demonstrates a link between football and dementia using the examples of 1966 World Cup winner Stiles and Gerd Muller, champion and top scorer with West Germany in 1974.
Throughout the campaign, images of some of the game’s biggest legends in their most memorable moments are depicted and then hit with a football until the faces are worn away.
Those impacts are intended to match the frequency and intensity of heading the ball by players throughout their careers.
Around 1.5 million people play football in the UK at least twice a month. Over the span of a 10-year career, a player will head the ball around 7,600 times. However, when heading in training is included, the number of headers that a player will undertake across a career hits around 70,000.
Professor Willie Stewart has linked repetitive heading of the ball to the onset of the disease among professional players. And research has also shown that football players are five times more likely to develop dementia due to repeated heading of the ball.
Stiles died in 2020 having suffered from dementia and other ailments while Muller succumbed to Alzheimer’s a year later.
Head for Change is dedicated to being part of the solution to sports-related neurodegenerative disease.
Led by family members of affected football and rugby players, the trustees combine professional expertise with lived experience in advocating for player protection, care and support, education and relevant research.
Supported by many high-profile, ex-rugby players and footballers, Head for Change is increasingly recognised, both internationally and nationally, as an evidence-based voice of reason on the dangers of heading the ball.
Research increasingly demonstrates the causal link leading to the irrefutable understanding that ‘heading harms your brain.’ Head for Change is committed to disseminating this message to ensure that players of today do not become the victims of tomorrow.
“The powerful video created by Leith Advertising graphically highlights and illustrates the dangerous outcomes from repetitive head impacts in football,” says Judith Gates, chair and co-founder of Head for Change.
“Effectively utilising visual imagery, the video shows the cumulative effects of heading the ball, initially on memories, ultimately on the players themselves. Both are quite literally obliterated.
“The haunting sound of the striking ball will echo in the memories of the watchers. Truly, with regard to the Unforgettables, the viewer should acknowledge that: ‘while they can no longer remember, we must never forget!’
You can find out more about the campaign here and about the Head for Change charity here.
Families interested in sport and dealing with dementia might also find the Sporting Memories charity useful.
