Heading could be 'phased out of football' in 5 years, says Stamford AFC Women's manager

Heading in football could be 'phased out of the game in the next five-to-ten years', according to Stamford AFC Women's manager.

It's after the Scottish FA banned heading in training sessions in the days immediately before and after a game - to combat concerns over it causing damage to the brain.

In 2019, research from Glasgow University showed former footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die from brain disease.

Stamford AFC Women's coach Robin Chaudhuri has been involved with the sport at grassroots for a decade - he tells us limitations are bound to come into the English game too:

'People like me grew up with long balls and heavier balls played, that's going to go, and this encourages players to always play on the floor, rather than to always lift the ball and I think in time there will be bans on the heading...'

'...It's already the case that there are limitations on what you should be doing at youth level.'

Will heading be classed as a foul?

If the heading side of the game isn't phased out altogether, Mr Chaudhuri said "it's not impossible" that using the head could be classified as a foul:

'it's not impossible. Let's think - ten years ago this discussion would've been unthinkable, so who knows. It wouldn't surprise me.'

'I just think we're going to find heading eventually phased out of the game, and it may be kept in senior competitions, but I imagine clubs will basically encourage players to not head. How you're going to deal with corners - that's an interesting one.'

'It may well be that headguards are going to become the norm to reduce the impact. I imagine these kinds of discussions are being had in the background'

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