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An article entitled 'Danger in heading the ball' appeared in the Football League Review magazine of October 1966, where a club medic said the 'continual jarring of the brain tissue could and does affect players'.

Now that rugby authorities are into “compelling storytelling”, here’s one from The Drake Foundation - 23% of 44 elite players in our 2021 imaging study, av. age 25, had white matter damage, and some ex-players in their 40’s have brain health issues. Image: Daily Telegraph Friday 10 May

In discussing the detrimental effects of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), Dr Chris Van Tulleken Chris van Tulleken 🏳️‍🌈 advocates that conflicts of interest on UK scientific and advisory bodies be outlawed. amp.theguardian.com/food/article/2…

I share van Tulleken’s conflict-of-interest concerns: 3 co-authors of our football HEADING Study (funded by @theDrakefdn ) have been on the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council to decide if dementia should be an industrial injury for football. telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/…

Saddened to learn of the death of rugby league legend Rob Burrow from MND at 41. This terrible disease can only be tackled through Burrow’s example of raising awareness & more research. Rob Burrow with his loving wife Lindsey:

George Orwell b. 25th June 1903 Writer “Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

'The Drake Foundation funded the football HEADING Study to £500K, & yet we are being stonewalled on the outcome. The much-delayed study has been sitting on a preprint server since March, and no recent indication of progress issued. medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

Queen Camilla b. 17 July 1947Queen Camilla is a passionate champion for those affected by domestic abuse. In a small way our Drake Foundation The Drake Foundation is also highlighting this serious issue through our ongoing Drake IPV Study

Because of this shared interest I did a portrait for Queen Camilla. Her thank-you letter clearlyreveals the self-deprecating humour of a thoroughly down-to-earth person.

Elite rugby, a game I love passionately, is currently unsafe and needs rule changes. It is about time the authorities took notice. Our wonderful players deserve it. academic.oup.com/braincomms/art…

With all the hot air expended on brain health in sport, why don’t they get the facts using MRI? Singer Peter Starstedt got it right 50 years ago when he said “I wonder if they really care - give a damn” and even better “I want to look inside your head”.

According to The Washington Post , attorneys promised a “state of the art” process to diagnose former NFL players suffering from brain disease. But basic tools including MRI still aren’t being used, the Post has reported, saving the NFL millions. washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/08…

In BBC Rugby on Trial expert Ann McKee explains that it’s the cumulative impacts that create the problem. Obvious ways to address that is to reduce impacts through less contact in training, fewer games & longer recovery periods from concussion.

The Drake Foundation-funded HEADING Study has been stuck on a pre-print server for 6 months & 5 neuroscientists are no longer listed as coauthors. Also 3 coauthors are or were on the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council. What is going on?

A BMJ study showed that over 60% of the govt’s. scientific advisory committee on nutrition is industry-funded. I am equally concerned about conflicts of interest in sport - 3 coauthors of our football HEADING Study are or were on the Industrial Injuries Advisory Panel.

In 2022 Tom Curry left following concussion against Australia, saying: “My job is to play rugby, I trust the scientists to take care of concussion rules.” On Sunday he returned to the field despite being ‘clearly unconscious’. Will he retain his faith in the medics.?

Bennet Omalu b. 30 September 1968 Pathologist who identified chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a disease in NFL players. “The fundamental issue is not concussions but repeated blows to the head - with or without concussions, with or without helmets.”

- Telegraph Sport reports that the FA considered “To expand [the scope of the inquest] (on ex-footballer Bill Gates who was shown to have CTE on autopsy) to the course of the occupation as a footballer is neither desirable, nor proportionate nor necessary."

'David Walsh in The Times and The Sunday Times speaks for many: contact sport players’ brains need better protection. Our study on 44 young elite rugby players showed evidence of white matter damage in 23%, to add to the problems so many ex-players report. academic.oup.com/braincomms/art…