Monday, November 11, 2002

The British always have the best news.



Heading the ball killed Astle
By Wayne Veysey, Evening Standard
11 November 2002

Former England soccer star Jeff Astle died from a degenerative brain disease caused by heading heavy leather footballs, a coroner ruled today.

Astle, who played in the 1970 World Cup and enjoyed a successful club career with West Bromwich Albion, died as a result of "industrial disease", an inquest heard.

South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh said it was likely to have been caused by "repeated small traumas to the brain" - related to heading a heavy, often wet, leather ball.


Astle died aged 59 in January this year. He collapsed at his daughter's home and died after being taken to the Queen's Hospital, Burton.

Lorraine Astle, his wife of 38 years, told the inquest: "He underwent a brain scan last year and it revealed Jeff had suffered an injury to the front part of his brain.

"It was known throughout the game that he was one of the hardest headers of a football and this was in the days when a ball was made of leather - it would have been like heading a bag of bricks."

The striker, who won five England caps, enjoyed renewed fame in the Nineties with regular appearances on the Fantasy Football League television programme. Every week, hosts Frank Skinner and David Baddiel invited him to sing on the closing credits of the show, often in fancy dress.

He then toured around the country reminiscing about his career while dressed as Tina Turner.

Throughout a 20-year professional soccer career Astle's trademark was his powerful headed goals but this ultimately killed him. It has been claimed for some time that older footballers have been at risk because the balls they played with were of a type of leather which absorbed water and made them very heavy.

Critics claimed that heading this type of ball was akin to being punched in the head.

Today's ruling is vindication for the Astle family, who have always maintained that his death was caused by repeatedly striking a football with his head.

They said they had finally received "justice" thanks to the coroner's verdict of death by industrial disease.

Dr Derek Robson, a consultant neurological pathologist, said there was evidence of brain injury consistent with "repeated minor trauma".

Astle scored 137 goals in 292 league appearances for West Brom and scored the extra-time winner in their 1968 FA Cup Final win over Everton.

His greatest claim to fame was when he became the first player to have scored in every round of the FA Cup in the same year.

The goal against Everton sealed Astle's reputation as more than just a target man, only good in the air. But he failed spectacularly in the most high-profile game of his career only two years later.

During England's first-round match against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup Finals, England were only one goal down when Astle was brought on for Francis Lee with half an hour left.

Soon he spectacularly missed England's best chance of the match and England lost to the eventual winners. Astle's mistake was destined to be remembered for years to come.

He retired from football in 1977, to run a successful industrial cleaning company. His van was emblazoned with the legend "Astle Never Misses The Corners".

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