Gary Lineker fears getting dementia

• Bang Showbiz
• 17 March 2021

Gary Lineker

Gary Lineker plans to have further checks on his mind as a result of he is involved years of heading the ball will trigger dementia in later life

Gary Lineker thinks not less than considered one of him and his ‘Match of the Day’ co-stars will “most likely” get dementia.

The 60-year-old former footballer admitted he and co-stars Alan Shearer and Ian Wright worry they are going to contract the illness sooner or later as a consequence of years of heading balls after analysis confirmed skilled ex-soccer gamers are 3.5 instances extra prone to die from a mind dysfunction than the overall inhabitants.

And Gary has pledged to get further checks for indicators of dementia, which has led to the deaths of 1996 World Cup gamers Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson, and Bobby Charlton recognized with the situation final 12 months.

He stated: “I’ve had conversations with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright and others concerning the fear that come 10, 15 years that it’d occur to considered one of us.

“The odds counsel that it most likely will.

“I’ve common well being checks, together with the mind. So far all the things is OK.

“I’ll have my triannual check this summer time and ask if there’s something they will set up across the mind, as a result of I don’t see how, given the circumstances any footballer wouldn’t be nervous about it.”

And Gary – who has teamed up with talkSPORT for a ‘Dementia in Football’ documentary – believes working towards heading the ball ought to be faraway from coaching workouts, although he does not really feel it ought to be banned utterly.

He stated: “Do you wish to take heading out of the sport? No I don’t suppose so, however you possibly can take heading out of coaching, or restrict it massively.

“Exercises the place defenders are heading it clear, crosses are despatched in and gamers are heading the ball away and at objective repeatedly – bang, bang, bang – most harm will most likely be carried out then.

“In a match what number of instances would you head it? Not that many.

“If I had identified what I do know now, I might have actually restricted the quantity of heading I did.

“It’s arduous to think about the sport with out heading, however perhaps it’s price trialling.

“The period of the 1966 gamers has made us actually conscious of this. Football has modified since, so we might even see it (dementia) is much less prevalent in my period.

“But can we afford to attend that lengthy? I believe not.”