This Sunday, a new documentary featuring Alan Shearer will be screened on the BBC, examining the links between heading footballs and dementia.
In recent years, the effects of heading balls on the brain has had increasing amounts of light shed on it and it is a topic we previously discussed with Dawn Astle, daughter of late West Brom legend Jeff Astle.
Tonight, Newcastle, Blackburn and England legend Shearer joined Joe and Kevin to share what he has learned about the dangers of heading footballs in making Dementia, Football And Me.
"I was on a long haul flight and I happened to be watching the film Concussion about the NFL and the issues they've had with brain disease and dementia and it sort of struck a chord because my family are always saying to me that, 'Dad, you've got a terrible memory'. Now, I don't if it's just because I don't listen and I knew of issues that were occurring in football and knew a few ex-pros who were struggling with dementia," he said
📻 Tonight @alanshearer chats w/@kdkilbane77 @MolloyJoe about his documentary on links between heading and dementia
In 2015, we spoke with Dawn Astle, daughter of ex- #WBA legend Jeff Astle @JeffAstleFdn about dangers of CTE in football. Podcast ⬇ï¸
https://t.co/x7EECNZf1b— Off The Ball (@offtheball) November 8, 2017
"So I went to the BBC and asked them and thought we could make something out of that and asked could we do it and they very kindly agreed and I was determined to look into it a bit more.
Shearer also spoke about how tough it was to make the documentary given the suffering those with dementia and their families go through on a day to day basis. He touched on his experience speaking to Dawn Astle.
"I've spoken with Dawn and Dawn, rightly so, is very, very angry because her father died in 2002 and the coroner ruled that he died of an industrial disease. In other words, the coroner said 'football killed him,'" said Shearer.
"Now, that happened in 2002, the coroner ruled that. It is now 2017 and nothing, and I mean nothing has been done about it. That's why she's angry and that's why there's a lot of people out there that are angry who have lost their loved ones to this horrible disease.
Newcastle's Alan Shearer tries a looping header as Partizans Vuk Rasovic looks on in 1998. Simon Wilkinson/EMPICS Sport
"And when you go into football, you expect in later life that you're going to have problems with your knees, your ankles and back - and I've got all of those things. But never, ever did I think that there may be a chance because of football that I could get a brain disease.
"Fabrice Muamba collapsed at Tottenham Hotspur on the pitch with a heart problem. Within six months every football club had a defibrillator and every footballer has a heart check and rightly so. Now, that was a few years ago when that happened but in 2002 [Astle] was diagnosed with an industrial disease, Jeff's brain and we're in 2017 now and the authorities have done nothing and that cannot be right."
Shearer explained that while there are a limited number of headers per players during the average match, it is training which presents a major concern given the increased amount of contact time between head and ball.
He did cognitive tests during the documentary including tests with the old, heavy balls that were especially dangerous when wet.
"There isn't too much difference in the weight of the ball now and the weight of the ball then but the problem is when it's wet, it becomes a lot heavier," he explained.
