General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Seems to be coming more to the fore these days. I know medical science is more aware of these injuries and their causes today and its inevitable that more will be done to stamp out bad practice at source. But, and I know its been said before that the old heavy leather football was to blame. Especially when sodden, it's continuous reps in practice that did most of the damage. Players didn't become brilliant in the air by accident, they spent hours honing the skill. I read recently that the weight of the football hasn't changed over the years. That maybe so but the composition of the ball now tends to suggest no water uptake, it should be the same weight at full time as at the start. It would be interesting to see if the old ball was ever weighed at full time after a downpour ?. Unfortunately heading is an integeral part of the game and it begs the question what sort of spectacle would it be without it ?. Imagine a corner kick or free kick placed high into the box . Unless some athletic 6 footer was to atempt a bicycle kick it should be 'keepers ball. Perhaps an experimental game should be played after the season where headers were outlawd and penalised with a free kick to the opposition to see how the game looked, how the players felt taking part and how strategy would evolve with the rule change. I feel for Gordon, Nobby, Geoff and indeed the rugby players who's head injuries have meant life changing circumstances later down the line. The games evolved, perhaps the rules should too !!