England, brain damage: 30 former footballers sue the FA

The battles of athletes against brain damage caused by competitive activity enter a new phase. Thirty former British footballers, including some who have been diagnosed with dementia, have prepared a lawsuit against the Football Association, guilty in their opinion of not having protected the players and of having been negligent on preventive measures. The specific accusations are different and concern the failure to promptly adopt: limitations of head shots in training, medical monitoring and treatment of trauma and a return to the field protocol.

The decision to sue the English Football Association dates back to two years ago, when a first draft of the letter of complaint was prepared, which will be delivered on Friday to both the FA and the Alphabet. Nine of the thirty players, who have spent in the top four professional divisions, will be specifically named. The age varies between 60 and 70 years and many have irreversible neurological disorders, resulting from chronic traumatic encephalopathy and post-commotion syndrome (ie the persistence of the typical symptoms of a concussion).

Nobby Stiles

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The protest was also joined by several families of deceased footballers who had this type of problem, including that of Nobby Stiles, hero of the 1966 World Cup won by England. The initiative is supported by Head for Change, a charity that offers support to those affected by these diseases, which pushes for help to be provided 24 hours a day, every day, and an ad hoc ombudsman is established, as well as to the general codification of preventive measures, on which the FA has moved in recent years. The next lawsuit will be brought by the law firm Rylands Garth, as reported by the British press, which has already represented more than 300 former rugby players for the same reasons, in the largest class action on the issue outside the US.