Scottish FA to ban U12s from heading footballs in training.

[Sad Chris]

At least now they’ll stop blaming glue-sniffing

 

[Gio]

Might encourage better football in the long run.

Especially for a country notorious for supporting physical and direct football, where the big kids have been the focal point for so many youth teams over the years.

 

[Sandikan]

How many older players have had issues due to head trauma? I know about Jeff Astle, anyone else?

And also, the key thing is that balls were like concrete back then - they're much lighter these days!

 

[Sandikan]

This is inevitably going to reach all levels of football. Maybe not for a long time but eventually headers will be outlawed even at professional level.

I can see heading being banned in a few years. Will make things interesting for defenders especially.

They would have to bring in a head height rule, which would totally change and probably ruin the sport as a whole.
Long balls would be heavily reduced, the pace would go down, and it'd be a totally poor spectacle.

Lindelöf is seriously hoping it happens though! And quickly!

 

[padr81]

They would have to bring in a head height rule, which would totally change and probably ruin the sport as a whole.
Long balls would be heavily reduced, the pace would go down, and it'd be a totally poor spectacle.

Lindelöf is seriously hoping it happens though! And quickly!

Without a head height rule, I was thinking the opposite with long balls. I think it would make defending long balls even harder.
Can you imagine one of those typical Liverpool long balls pinged from VVD and instead of dropping over the CB its dropping where he's still behind the ball. That poor CB has to wait for it to drop while he's being run down by Mane. He either would have to wait and volley away or try and control it on his chest whilst having the life pressed right out of him. It would be a dream for Klopp teams and a nightmare to defend those balls as opposed to seeing them reduced.

Would also make having big men in football pointless, remove corners pretty much altogether. Football would be a different game and probably not for the better. I still see it happening long term though.

 

[Sandikan]

Without a head height rule, I was thinking the opposite with long balls. I think it would make defending long balls even harder.
Can you imagine one of those typical Liverpool long balls pinged from VVD and instead of dropping over the CB its dropping where he's still behind the ball. That poor CB has to wait for it to drop while he's being run down by Mane. He either would have to wait and volley away or try and control it on his chest whilst having the life pressed right out of him. It would be a dream for Klopp teams and a nightmare to defend those balls as opposed to seeing them reduced.

Would also make having big men in football pointless, remove corners pretty much altogether. Football would be a different game and probably not for the better. I still see it happening long term though.

I think there's no chance personally, unless we change to a smaller sided arena and football becomes like that tika taka form.

It might be relished by the clubs as they can bring in a few thousand extra seats!

The style of football you mention would make football too much of a farcical error driven game, and you'd still have bigger players for their physicality in holding others off and tackling. "Holding off" would suddenly become a huge extra skill, and we'd all be driven to rage like we are when a defender shepherds the ball out

 

[padr81]

I think there's no chance personally, unless we change to a smaller sided arena and football becomes like that tika taka form.

It might be relished by the clubs as they can bring in a few thousand extra seats!

The style of football you mention would make football too much of a farcical error driven game, and you'd still have bigger players for their physicality in holding others off and tackling. "Holding off" would suddenly become a huge extra skill, and we'd all be driven to rage like we are when a defender shepherds the ball out

100%, its weird how one change could feck the game up so much. Actually maybe not when we consider VAR but...

 

[Sandikan]

100%, its weird how one change could feck the game up so much. Actually maybe not when we consider VAR but...

Of course, hindsight would be everything.
I dare say most thought the no picking up pass backs was a disaster, but that's proven to be genius.

But taking out heading would be totally different and be a real handicap. I'd say they'd bring in helmets before a ban!

 

[padr81]

Of course, hindsight would be everything.
I dare say most thought the no picking up pass backs was a disaster, but that's proven to be genius.

But taking out heading would be totally different and be a real handicap. I'd say they'd bring in helmets before a ban!

Actually it would be interesting to see how helmets would work in football. The issue with them is they don't reduce concussion and brain movement at all. They only reduce really reduce superficial injuries. They were removed from amateur boxing because they were leading to more and not less concussion/brain trauma.

 

[Harry190]

Good move. Why risk it. It's not natural.

 

[Sandikan]

Actually it would be interesting to see how helmets would work in football. The issue with them is they don't reduce concussion and brain movement at all. They only reduce really reduce superficial injuries. They were removed from amateur boxing because they were leading to more and not less concussion/brain trauma.

One of my lot at Wycombe had three head injuries over a month, so now always wears a protective headgear piece.

So there must be something to them.

 

[Withnail]

One of my lot at Wycombe had three head injuries over a month, so now always wears a protective headgear piece.

So there must be something to them.

What kind of head gear?

If it's anything like what Cech wore, which was a scrum cap whose function is to stop damage to the ears, it would offer very little protection from brain trauma.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

What kind of head gear?

If it's anything like what Cech wore, which was a scrum cap whose function is to stop damage to the ears, it would offer very little protection from brain trauma.

I think people misunderstand what head guards actually do. In amateur boxing they were primarily used to stop bleeding from cuts etc. They were recently scrapped because they were thought to actually be more dangerous in terms of brain injuries because of the extra weight and torque it created on the neck.