Campaigners have called on MPs to help tackle what they say is a “scandalous” lack of funding to support the families of footballers diagnosed with dementia.
Former England stars including Sir Geoff Hurst and Kevin Keegan went to the House of Commons on Tuesday evening to meet with MPs in support of the Football Families for Justice (FFJ) campaign.
FFJ wants football’s new independent regulator to impose a statutory duty on the sport’s national authorities to develop a comprehensive dementia strategy, including a substantially-increased care fund.
FFJ is headed up by John Stiles, the son of former England and Manchester United midfielder Nobby Stiles, who died in October 2020.
A post-mortem on 1966 World Cup winner Stiles’ brain found he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive neurodegenerative disease associated with repetitive head impacts.
Stiles told the PA news agency that the Brain Health Fund, set up with an initial £1million in 2023 by players’ union the Professional Footballers’ Association with support from the Premier League, was a “smokescreen”, “PR exercise” and “not fit for purpose”.
“My dad’s care costs were £125,000 – £1m won’t even pay for 12 families’ care costs for a year. We want a properly financed fund,” he said.
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton, whose father died from dementia, told the meeting: “Is there another union who treats their own like the PFA have treated families like they have?
“Their website (says): ‘We provide players’ rights, represent their views, and provide support. We are the only football organisation that solely prioritises players needs, and we are here for you, for football for life’.
“There’s not one person in the room who would feel that was the case. That’s not good enough.”
Giving the regulator powers in this area would require an amendment to the Football Governance Bill, which had its second reading in the Commons on Monday, and Stiles accepted the chances of achieving that were “pretty slim”.
A number of MPs expressed support for widening the regulator’s remit during Monday’s debate, with Caerphilly’s Labour MP Chris Evans saying investigating this issue was vital to avoid current England stars being at risk.
The 2019 FIELD Study, co-funded by the PFA and the Football Association, found footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the population.
Further FIELD Study research published last December found that the increased risk was not driven by general health or lifestyle factors.
Stiles insisted the main priority for FFJ was to compel football to urgently provide greater funding to those affected.
“It’s only going to get worse. Families are having to sell their homes to pay for care costs,” he said.
“We also want some sort of compensation for widows. What’s going on at the moment is scandalous. It’s absolutely scandalous.”
An FA spokesperson said: “We continue to take a leading role in reviewing and improving the safety of our game.
“This includes investing in and supporting multiple projects in order to gain a greater understanding of this area through objective, robust and thorough research.
“We have already taken many proactive steps to review and address potential risk factors which may be associated with football whilst ongoing research continues in this area, including liaising with the international governing bodies.”
The PFA has also been approached for comment.
