Newcastle United legend leads appeal to MPs on 'scandalous' dementia support for football families
The Football Families for Justice campaign wants football's new independent regulator to impose a statutory duty on the sport's national authorities to develop a comprehensive dementia strategy
Campaigners are urging Parliament to address what they describe as the "scandalous" underfunding for the support of footballers' families affected by dementia.
Newcastle United legend Kevin Keegan and England World Cup winning hero Sir Geoff Hurst will stand side-by-side with MPs at the House of Commons on Tuesday evening, advocating for the Football Families for Justice (FFJ) movement. Keegan's former team-mate and assistant manager at Newcastle, Terry McDermott, announced he had been diagnosed with dementia in 2021.
The group, led by John Stiles - son of ex-England and Manchester United player Nobby Stiles, who passed away in October 2020 - is demanding a robust dementia strategy from the future independent regulator of football, alongside a significantly larger care fund. After his father succumbed to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), confirmed via postmortem, John Stiles has spoken out against the current Brain Health Fund by the Professional Footballers' Association, which he views as a mere "smokescreen" and "PR exercise".
John Stiles told the PA news agency that the Brain Health Fund set up by players' union the Professional Footballers' Association was a "smokescreen" and a "PR exercise". The fund, which was created in September 2023 with the support of the Premier League, was launched with an initial £1million.
"(The fund) is not fit for purpose," Stiles said.. "My dad's care costs were £125,000 - £1m won't even pay for 12 families' care costs for a year. So we want a properly financed fund."
An amendment to the Football Governance Bill would be required to grant the regulator powers in this area, a bill that had its second reading in the Commons on Monday.
Stiles concedes that the odds of securing an amendment are "pretty slim", but he added: "We can't not go for it because the union isn't helping us. They're not fighting for us. The PFA aren't helping us in any way. So we're doing every angle we can to try and get this sorted out."
During Monday evening's debate, several MPs voiced their support for expanding the regulator's remit, with Chris Evans, the Labour representative for Caerphilly, stating that investigating this issue was crucial to prevent current stars like from being at risk.
The 2019 FIELD Study, jointly funded by the PFA and the Football Association, discovered that footballers were three and a half times more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population. Further research from the FIELD Study published last December revealed that the increased risk was not due to general health or lifestyle factors.
Stiles is adamant that FFJ's main priority is to pressure football to urgently provide more funding to those affected.
"This isn't going away. It's only going to get worse. Families are having to sell their homes to pay for care costs," he said. "We also want some sort of compensation for widows. What's happening at the moment is scandalous. It's absolutely scandalous.
"Families ring me up and say 'if he goes in a care home, I don't know what we're going to do'. They will be losing their homes. And we know that heading the ball has done it."
An FA spokesperson stated: "We continue to take a leading role in reviewing and improving the safety of our game. This includes investing in and supporting multiple projects in order to gain a greater understanding of this area through objective, robust and thorough research.
"We have already taken many proactive steps to review and address potential risk factors which may be associated with football whilst ongoing research continues in this area including liaising with the international governing bodies."
The PFA has also been approached for comment.