By: Jonathan Eida, researcher
Football, like politics, is full of pitiful platitudes and empty virtue signalling. Unsurprisingly, when the two intersect, the outcome is more hot air than substance. But behind the feel-good slogans and surface-level concerns, both football and governments are guilty of decisions that have devastating real-world consequences—especially for taxpayers.
A scandal is festering in football, and it’s being quietly ignored by politicians, civil servants, football clubs, and trade unions. The inevitable fallout will, as always, leave the British taxpayer picking up the tab.
All industries that require physical activity leave workers at risk of incurring injury. Football is no different. Studies have shown that former footballers are at a disproportionately high risk of developing neuro-degenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. This has been attributed to the physical toll of playing the game. Mild repetitive head injuries cause neuroinflammation, which is a precursor to neuro-degenerative diseases further down the line. A study from 2023 found that male football players in the Swedish top division had a 1.5-fold increased risk of neurodegenerative disease.
Yet, those in power, whether in government or football, are turning a blind eye. They’ve left it to groups like Football Families for Justice (FFJ), composed of ex-footballers families, to sound the alarm. FFJ is attempting to hold those who can assist former players to account before the situation develops into even more of a scandal and tragedy. Aside from the obvious, objectively decent outcome that FFJ are seeking, FFJ are pushing for support in ways that will save taxpayers down the line while those in the government, civil service, trade unions and football more generally continue to drag their feet.
The ongoing COVID inquiry investigating the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has made headlines due to its cost. The cost of the inquiry is estimated to be almost £200 million by the time of compilation. Other inquiries, for example, into the Manchester Arena terrorist attack, cost the taxpayer almost £36 million. The inquiry into the death of Robert Hamill cost over £46 million. If the scandal that is the abandoning of footballers with neuro-degenerative diseases is allowed to continue, it is inevitable that down the line, an inquiry will be launched to investigate how this was allowed to happen. Like the Post Office scandal, which left the public enraged, politicians from all parties and civil servants will be left with egg on their faces. How long before the truth breaks the news and another multi-million-pound inquiry is forced upon us?
Then there is the cost to the NHS. Research shows that almost a million people have dementia in the UK. According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, the cost of dementia care to hospitals was £2.7 billion in 2017-18. Services are stretched, and support for those suffering is needed, especially as the NHS strains under pressure.
The time to act is now. But proposals have been met with a government bureaucracy that is prolonging progress, refusing to help lean on the football industry to face responsibility, costing the taxpayer both in the present and the future. An inquiry down the line won’t solve anything and will just leave taxpayers worse off. The government and the civil service cannot ignore the problem and should lean on the football industry to look after itself, or they, too, will be culpable.
This leads to the question of, where should help for these ex-footballers lie?
Player welfare is often a line trotted out by the player’s union (PFA). Usually it is an argument for players to play less football. On the announcement of the new Champions League format, the PFA threatened to bring players out on strike in the name of player welfare. But when it comes to protecting players from increased risk of neurological damage they are nowhere to be found. Player welfare seemingly only works one way. The PFA has the ability to raise funds from players and form a pot that would go some way in helping those facing the externalities of football. But the PFA have ignored substantive proposals, focusing on redirection and negating to offer adequate support for former players. The PFA did, however, find the money to fund the head of the union’s salary to the tune of £650,000!
Football clubs and the leagues should also contribute to a fund to protect their players. The contributions to this funding would be minimal in the overall scheme of football finance, barely a knock to the leagues and the clubs. The Premier League’s TV rights deal alone amounted to £10 billion, just to put the finances in perspective.
Too often, the government is relied on for support, leaving taxpayers to fund the bill. While the primary victims of football’s scandal are of course, the former players suffering with debilitating diseases, the taxpayer should not be forgotten. The football industry, from the leagues to the teams to the players to the players union, should be responsible for looking after the people who have given so much for the game. The government and the civil service have a responsibility to taxpayers to lean on the football industry to save taxpayer money.