The families of five former footballers are leading a fresh campaign to protect brain health among the next generation of players and reduce heading in training.
It is led by Dr Judith Gates, widow of former Middlesbrough centre half Bill Gates who died in 2023 after years living with brain disease.
Gates, a founder and trustee of the Head Safe Football charity, is determined to move the narrative on from ‘shock’ and ‘sympathy’ for what has happened in the past to ‘action’ and the safety of those playing the game now and in the future.
Standing alongside her are the families of four more former players with strong Boro connections – Nobby Stiles, Gordon McQueen, Willie Maddren and Hugh McIlmoyle.
Sadly, they have all witnessed from close quarters the horrors of sport-related brain diseases including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and they will be the first to sign a new petition on Wednesday.
Middlesbrough’s Bill Gates, pictured tackling George Best in 1970, died in 2023 after living with brain disease
The petition will call on Government to act in five areas:
1. Debate the petition in Parliament.
2. Promote: ‘Think Head Safe: reduce heading in training’ as a national slogan.
3. Recognise that CTE from repetitive head impacts is a public-health issue.
4. Work with sporting governing bodies to systematically reduce heading in training through policy and accredited coach education.
5. Work with the Department for Education to embed brain-health education and HeadSAFE within teacher training and PE.
The family of Nobby Stiles (left) are among those supporting the petition
‘We cannot save players who already have probable CTE,’ says Gates. ‘We cannot take away the fear of former players who worry about what years of playing football may mean for their future. But we can, and must, protect the players who are playing today – and those who will play tomorrow.
‘The scientific evidence is increasingly difficult to ignore. Research has identified CTE in the brains of professional and amateur footballers and has found CTE pathology in young people.
‘With more than 5million children and 10million adults playing football in England, this is not simply a professional football issue. It is a national and even a worldwide issue.’
Also backing the campaign are former Middlesbrough, Manchester United and England defender Gary Pallister and Tina White, widow of Goff White who was identified as the first non-League player to die with CTE.
