Former Republic of Ireland striker John Aldridge has admitted that he could have picked up a long-term brain injury from his playing days as a footballer, but also admits there is little he can do now.
Aldridge was a prolific, record-breaking striker best known for his time with English club Liverpool in the late 1980s. His tally of 330 Football League goals is the sixth-highest in the history of English football.
The now-65-year-old also played 69 times for Ireland, despite being from Liverpool. He scored 19 goals from 1986 to 1996 with Ireland.
This week, a preliminary hearing for a group of former footballers taking legal action over brain injuries allegedly suffered during their careers reached the High Court.
The action is against the Football Association (FA), English Football League (EFL), Football Association of Wales (FAW), and International Football Association Board (IFAB).
The family of England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles is one of 19 claimants in the case against the footballing bodies.
Lawyers for the Stiles family have previously claimed the sporting bodies did not take adequate action to reduce heading the ball in training and during matches.
Last year, researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published a study in The Lancet Public Health journal that compared the health records of 6,000 elite footballers and more than 56,000 non-footballers between 1924 and 2019.
They found that among male footballers playing in the Swedish top division, 9% were diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease, compared with 6% of the control sample.
McAteer pictured at USA '94 with John Aldridge, left, and Eddie McGoldrickAldridge, speaking this week, has admitted that he has undergone tests to see if he has been affected like his peers, but also claimed there is little he can do now at the age of 65.
"The damage has been done,” he said. “I headed the ball as much as anyone else; I just used to love heading the ball, practicing every day.
“We trained with the heavier balls, and we’d stay behind after training and head it 50 or 60 times.
“I’ve had some problems myself, and I had some tests. But I’m not worried about myself as much as I am worried about my family because we’ve all seen what these illnesses do to the people around you who suffer more.”
The former Liverpool striker has also claimed that a number of his former colleagues and "proper Liverpool legends" have been suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s problems since their playing time in the 1950s, 60s, and some in the 70s. One of these is former Liverpool player Ron Yeats, aged 86, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago.
“It seems that of the lads that have passed away from the 50s, 60s, and some 70s who were my heroes, 70 to 80 percent had dementia or Alzheimer’s problems as well as the illness that took them,” he said.
“We’ve got four ex-players and proper Liverpool legends who have problems with it now. These are people who made Liverpool great and why we are where we are.”
Despite this, Aldridge has claimed he will do his bit to help those suffering from their illness.
“We help our ex-players in any way we can. We are doing it now with two great players of the past,” he concluded.
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