Heading for Trouble: Nobby Stiles, Dementia and Football

The Link Between Heading a Football, and the Onset of Dementia

The late Nobby Stiles was regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of his generation.

He is best remembered for playing a key role in helping England famously win the World Cup in 1966.

Kurt Leyland, talks to Nobby Stile’s son, John about his late Father’s condition, and the role heading a football played in his later life.

Nobby Stiles enjoyed a glittering career at club level which saw him lift two First Division titles with Man United in 1965 and 1967 and a European Cup in 1968.

To this day he remains one of only two Englishmen to have lifted both the World Cup and the European Cup, the other being Sir Bobby Charlton.

His son John Stiles, who was also a footballer; most notably for Leeds United and Doncaster Rovers, reflected on his dad’s career.

“My dad had always been a huge Manchester United fan; it was his life. He came through as a part of the team which was managed by Sir Matt Busby. One of his first career goals came against Newcastle and he dedicated that to Eddie Colman who lost his life in the Munich disaster in 1958.

“Although it was rarely spoken about, I know the Munich disaster was a huge drive for that team to win the European Cup. Nobby was in the reserves at the time but lost close friends when the crash happened.”

After his retirement Nobby Stiles acted as a youth coach with Manchester United between 1989 and 1993, in this time, he helped harness the development of future stars such as Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Phil Neville.

We remember the life of Nobby Stiles MBE. An integral part of Man United’s first-ever European Cup-winning side.

Unfortunately, after his retirement Nobby’s health began to deteriorate, he suffered a heart attack in 2002 and a year later he became dazed and confused.

It soon became clear he was suffering from dementia and in 2016 it became public knowledge that Nobby was suffering with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.

John Stiles believes that his dad’s dementia has been caused by heading the ball during his playing days.

Particularly when the ball was wet and became even heavier.

“I think that is a stone-cold certainty that heading the ball frequently, causes dementia. Particularly the leather footballs that they used to use in the 1960s. It is very visible from the statistics, for my dad’s age, 1 in 44 people suffer from dementia, yet a much larger ratio of footballers from that era suffer.”

Like Stiles, England World Cup winners Ray Wilson, Martin Peters and Jack Charlton were all diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before their deaths.

Just two days after Stile’s death, it was also revealed that his teammate Bobby Charlton had been diagnosed with dementia, making him the fifth player from the 1966 England team.

Previous research has shown that ex-footballers are three times more likely to die of dementia than the general population.

Photo courtesy of the Middlesbrough Gazete

John believes that the FA needs to act fast and make alterations to the game:

“I think the problem has been covered up for too long and action needs to be taken. In America, they have stopped kids heading balls under the age of 11 and I think something similar should be introduced here in England.

“In a game, a player may have to head the ball three or four times, but in training, it’s a huge problem when coaches are constantly firing missiles at kids’ heads to train them to head the ball.”

“There needs to be more research into this area to make sure the players of today don’t suffer the same fate as my father. I also think players should be getting care and support now.” 

“My dad is always remembered for being the one who danced after we won the World Cup. Everyone from that era has some sort of story to tell my dad about where they were when England won the World Cup, he loved that.”

The First Defensive Midfielder

Although just 5ft 6, Nobby Stiles was known for his toughness and aggression, he became one of the first to play in the defensive midfield role, a role that has since become synonymous with the likes of Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira and more recently  N'Golo Kanté.

One of Nobby’s most notable career performances came in the 1966 World Cup semi-final against Portugal when he famously marked Portuguese legend Eusebio out of the game.

At the time Eusebio was in prolific goal-scoring form scoring nine goals in that tournament and eventually winning the Golden Boot.

John commented on his dad’s performance:

“That’s where Alf Ramsey was a genius, he was 30 years ahead of his time. My dad was one of the first to play in the defensive midfield role which we see so much more of in modern football- nowadays all the great managers are using them.”

“When he came up against Eusebio, he was facing one of the best players in the world, he was right up there with the likes of Pele. He played a massive role in nullifying him in that semi-final making it in impossible for him to influence the game.”