Dementia in football: First football match without heading

The first adult football match without heading took place between Spennymoor and Team Solan.

Football is a game played mostly with the feet but using headers to control the ball often happens, so what would the match be like if you couldn't use your head?

Last weekend the first adult football match without any heading took place.

The match was at Spennymoor Town FC in the north-east of England, and was held to raise awareness of the risk of dementia in players. Dementia is a syndrome that causes the brain to not function properly.

In 2019, a study found professional footballers were more likely to suffer from brain diseases later in life and it is thought that heading the ball might be one of the reasons this happens.

In the first half of the last weekend's match, players were only allowed to head the ball inside the 18-yard box. Then for the second half, players weren't allowed to head the ball anywhere on the pitch.

The game was set up by the charity Head for Change. They say they don't want to ban heading completely, but want to raise more awareness and promote for more research into what the long-term effects of heading a football might be.

The Football Association has also recently changed some of its guidelines on heading to help protect players from injury:

• Under 11s are banned from heading in training

• Professional clubs in England have been told to limit players to 10 "higher-force headers" a week in training

There is still a lot of discussion around headers and campaign groups are asking for more research into the links between heading and dementia so they can take steps to protect the players.

So what do you think? Should heading be banned in football completely? Take part in our vote below.

If you can't see this vote, click here.

Head to the comments to let us know your thoughts, do you think heading should be banned? What do you think the game would be like without heading? Tell us your opinions.