Caring - Hardest Game In The World

I think many F2F NHS staff have to have the PCR tests. Mrs Moose does them weekly and is triple vacco.

 

I think being worried about currently unknown long term side effects is a reasonable concern to have.

The problem is that the people who are concerned about that don't seem to put the issue in context. It's not down to vaccinated versus not being vaccinated, the consideration should be about being unvaccinated and contracting Covid versus possible side effects of being vaccinated.

Given that we don't know what the long term side effects of Covid are either, it's a bit odd to bank on a disease that's killed millions being less of a threat to you than a vaccine that hasn't. By all available metrics the instances of people having vaccine related issues are dwarfed by the issues caused by Covid, and in fact most of the complications from the vaccine are also present in Covid at a much rather rate.

For example, the myocarditis experienced by a very small percentage of vaccinated people also surfaces in people who contract Covid, but at a much, much higher rate. It doesn't seem unreasonable to hypothesise that the people who experienced it from the vaccine could well have experienced those same symptoms from Covid, too, but on a much more severe scale.

 

This is a bit scandalous.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/radical-plan-pay-scots-families-25892975

Because there are now very few carers left to provide care, thanks to the rotten wages and conditions plus the pressures of Covid, they're going to pay families £15 per hour to look after their family members. That's around 50% more than we carers get paid and they don't have to worry about any of that dreadful unpaid travel time, compulsory vaccinations, extensive and ongoing training, rigorous PPE etc.

Of course, if they were to pay carers £15 per hour then we might not have such a severe shortage.

 

I'm currently looking after TWO ex-professional players. Both played in the old first division - one was a keeper and the other an outside right.

Both played for the same team - currently in the championship. Not us and not L*ton. They remember each other pretty well.

The keeper is a fine fella. Smokes like a chimney but in good shape considering he's in his early 90s. The outside right has quite bad dementia unfortunately but is still a very pleasant chap. Has big problems with his knees, which he blames on football.

 

Any chance of them being available for the Stoke match?

 

Wouldn't surprise me if the dementia was also attributed to football.

 

Yep of the 3 ex-footballers I've looked after, 2 have been bad with dementia. Of course the balls were heavy things in those days and heading them must have been a fair blow to the head.

The ex-keeper is the only one who's been unaffected.

He tells me incidentally that the outside right was quite a player. Could have gone a lot further, but fell into "bad company". That was why he only got 3 seasons at the top.

 

There have been studies on American football players showing the sport can cause long term medical issues to the brain/dementia.

https://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/jnp.23.1.jnp98

I'd be very interested to see similar conducted on footballers. I'm sure heading balls hit at pace must have long term effects, especially when hit as hard as adult professionals are capable of. I remember being hit by a ball in the playground that almost knocked me over/senseless on a few occasions and those were balls kicked by kids.

 

I've spent a lot of time speaking to the wonderful Dawn Astle about this. For those who don't know her dad, Jeff, was the early poster boy for dementia caused by football.

I , if you look at the 1966 WC team as a sample then extrapolate that across the league at the time*, this is an issue that has affected a whole generation of players but has been shamefully swept under the carpet.

*I realise that's not a scientific approach but by any measure, the number of former players from that era with dementia or alzheimers is alarming.

 

Speaking of Which @Clive_ofthe_Kremlin, I'd be happy to connect you/your patient with Dawn. The Jeff Astle Foundation can offer amazing support for players struggling with this horrible illness.

 

Yup, its a very serious issue that the FA and the game as a whole have tried to stifle for many years. Many tests need to be carried out to see whether current players are still at a higher risk than the public or whether the lighter balls etc have made much of a difference.

 

My girls both play football (u9 and u11) and I've made absolutely no effort to coach them into heading the ball. Rather they were crap in the air than suffered brain injury.

Too late for me though as a defender for most of my illustrious career.

 

Have the FA banned heading at some youth levels now? Pretty sure I read something about that not too long ago.

I can see them eventually (not anytime soon though) banning heading in the game full stop. Hopefully I'll have retired by then as that would obviously kill my career!

 

I have a kickabout one week night sometimes. Took a shot full on in the face a few weeks ago, which game me a nose bleed and left me reeling. Obviously I played on, but it had given me concussion and took nearly 3 weeks to feel "right" again. Was like I was in a fog and a bit like a hangover head feeling.

Watching a centre back head a ball that's gone 30 metres up in the air, you can't help but feel that a brain injury is inevitable.

Both my kids play right back and will head it, but there's not that many headers in their games and we never do them in training. I think under 12s aren't allowed to head in games or training, but mine are older.

 

My father in law has Alzheimer's. He used to be a semi-pro in the early 60s. Strongly suspect the two are related.