England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died from brain injury linked to heading football, court rules

England 1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died with a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner’s court ruled July 15.

Stiles, a former Manchester United midfielder, died almost six years ago aged 78 with severe dementia and had headed a football around 140,000 times during his career, Stockport Coroner’s Court in north-west England heard at the inquest into his death.

Expert analysis of his brain showed his severe dementia was as a result of Alzheimer’s disease but also the condition, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been associated with head trauma from heading a ball.

Neuro-pathology expert Daniel Du Plessis told the court: “I’m quite convinced his heading the football that many times has caused his CTE.”

Alison Mutch, senior coroner for South Manchester, asked Du Plessis: “You are saying repeated heading of the ball is the cause of his CTE?”

“Yes,” Du Plessis replied.

Norbert “Nobby” Stiles was capped 28 times by England and played nearly 400 times for Manchester United.

Stiles’ son John, who has previously said football “killed” his father, told the hearing: “My dad was very humble, he just happened to have achieved quite a lot.”

Mutch said to Stiles it was “quite strange we are having this conversation on a day like this”, with England playing Argentina in a World Cup semi-final later on July 15.

But Stiles said his father “never talked, he never bragged” about being a World Cup winner.

Stiles estimated his father he headed the ball around 40 times a day, for five days a week, over a career in the game stretching to 17 years, calculating a “conservative” tally of 136,000 headers in total.

And he said footballs when his father played weighed around 16 ounces (453.5g) but would get heavier when wet.

He told the court studies have shown heading even a modern ball, which no longer absorbs water, is equivalent to around 80 per cent of the impact of a boxer’s punch.

John Stiles is among dozens of former footballers and their families suing England’s governing Football Association, the Football Association of Wales and the English Football League over claims they were “negligent and in breach of their duty of care” to the former players.

Lawyers for the former players and their families have previously said football authorities knew or should have known repeatedly heading a ball in training and during matches was likely to cause brain injuries, and that the risks were known for decades.

But in March this year lawyers for the Football Association told the High Court it has “not been established by science” that heading a ball or “occasional” concussion can lead to permanent brain damage.

In January an inquest into the death of Gordon McQueen, 70, a former Leeds, Manchester United and Scotland defender found heading the ball was “likely” to have contributed to a brain injury which was a factor in his death.

McQueen was also diagnosed with CTE.

His TV presenter daughter, Hayley McQueen, said England’s 1966 World Cup winning team had now been “pretty much wiped out” by neurodegenerative disease, with hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst the last living member of the 11 that beat West Germany 4-2 at Wembley.

The FA is currently phasing out all heading in youth football up to Under-11 level.

-AFP