Call for dementia in former professional footballers to be classed as an industrial injury
Scottish Government to use new welfare powers to help former professional footballers whose dementia is linked to heading a ball.Senior politicians and trade unionists want diseases like Alzheimer’s in ex-pros to be recognised as an industrial injury.Glasgow Labour councillor Martin McElroy, who is leading the campaign, said: “The Scottish Government has the opportunity to right this historic wrong, and to ensure former players get the support they need.”Research published in 2019 showed that former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to die of dementia.Glasgow University experts, led by Dr Willie Stewart, had investigated concerns that heading a football could be linked to brain trauma.Dr Stewart said the risk