Steve Hermon

24 years ago today, my family and I sat through the Inquest into my Dads death. We listened to a pathologist describe how badly damaged his brain was and how it had been destroyed because of his job. His brain looked like the brain of a boxer. He wasn’t a boxer , he was a footballer. He was only 59 when he died. He died due to the repeated heading of footballs. That wasn’t me saying that, or my family, that was HM Coroner saying it. We know football killed him, it’s on the bottom of his death certificate. Cause of Death, Industrial Disease. This ruling should have had earthquake like repercussions for the sport of football but it didn’t. An inquest ruling such as Dads should have been a defining moment where sport should have reacted with vigour, both to protect future generations of footballers and to help those past heroes who were dying and whose families were often facing collapse. We needed answers, answers to many questions. Two of the most important questions were, do we have a problem with our former players and dementia, and is the game safe now ? It took the incredible #JusticeforJeff campaign with the help and the support of 27,000 @WBA fans to make the footballing authorities sit up and listen. The #FIELDSTUDY proved everything we believed and feared. We now know that our former professional footballers are 5 x more likely to die with #AlzheimersDisease than you and I. Our footballers are 4 x more likely to die with #MND than you and I and are twice more likely to die with #ParkinsonsDisease If we fast forward to today, all these years later so much has changed. Would I have even began to believe this all those years ago , absolutely not. Giving up was never an option, we had to be his voice and we had to be the voice of all those unable to speak anymore. We have the Advanced Brain Clinic in London which hopefully will give us a better understanding of Brain Health in players in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. There is a dedicated Brain Health department at the PFA. We have guidance for the number of high force headers professionals do in training. We have Concussion Subs We have Education sessions for all professional players on both concussion and repetitive head impact ( heading ) We have a weekly Admiral Nurse clinic to support our families and players. We have the Football Brain Health Fund . We have had heading removed from the game for our youngest of children. We continue to push for dementia and other neurological diseases to be officially recognised as Industial Diseases through the IIAC. The work continues. Finally, we are really proud that although dementia robbed my dad of his life far too soon, it gave us, his family, the strength and the ability to start the discussions around dementia in the game. To educate about the dangers of both short term and long term brain trauma with our Healthy Brain, Healthy Game education presentations to #grassroots clubs, to impact sports medicine and to advocate for player safety. Our continued heartbreak is nothing compared to the brutality of what my dad faced. He loved his life, his family and his friends and he lost all that far too soon. Jeff Astle is remembered for changing lives, shaping football history, and leaving behind a legacy far greater than goals alone. Dawn and the Astle family x #CTE #MyDad #HisLegacy #dementiainfootball @JeffAstleFdn