Alan Shearer Dementia, Football and Me Documentary 2017

Damage to the brain due to sports is a topic that has been receiving a lot of attention recently. It's obviously something that we tend to think about more in sports like American football and boxing. But there is genuine concern about the damage that heading a soccer ball can do to a person over the course of their career and later in life. These concerns caused US Soccer to institute a rule that there is to be no heading for players in Under 11 and below.

In Dementia, Football and Me, Alan Shearer examines the correlation between heading a soccer ball and looks for answers to see if heading a soccer ball does in fact cause brain problems later in a players life. He speaks to former players who are dealing with dementia, the families of former players who have succumbed to the disease and who showed signs of CTE. He even goes so far as to get a series of tests done on himself to see if there is damage to his brain.

This is a really interesting documentary and may pose more questions than it does answer them. The topic of heading a soccer ball and the long term it has on players is something that I think will only get more attention going forward. This documentary is an hour long, but certainly worth your time to watch.