BU expert present during international football coverage

A BU academic and leading expert on the dangers of high-impact sports featured in ITV’s coverage of England’s international football match.

England’s Nations League match against the Republic of Ireland, broadcast nationally on ITV and ITVX, featured an in-depth story featuring former England international Dave Watson, who now suffers from dementia, believed to be the result of the high impact of his football career.

Dr. Keith Parry, Head of Sports at BU, has researched brain injuries in sport due to impacts such as heading in football, or tackling and concussion in rugby, and was featured in the story to share his expertise on their effects to share. possible links between sport and conditions such as dementia.

Dr. Parry said: “The work we do is so important because it highlights that brain injuries and brain diseases in athletes affect so many more people than just the athlete – family and friends in particular suffer alongside the athlete. The stories we have heard, like Dave Watson’s, are probably just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, and there will be many more to come at all levels of sport and unfortunately not just among professional players.”

Keet has written about this subject beforeand has published research on the need to protect children participating in sports, while more work is being done to understand the link between high-intensity sports and brain injury.

Dr. Parry continued: “Governments and sports with high rates of traumatic brain injury and brain disease in former players must stop delaying and take action to support former players, but also to change these sports so that the next generations of young players are kept safe. of damage. Rules are constantly being changed to benefit sports financially; Why doesn’t the sport change its rules to keep players safe?”

The piece, which aired ahead of the international competition, was followed by an in-studio discussion on the subject.

Keith said: “While we will continue to push for changes in policy and practice, telling the stories of those affected is also so important. In our future research, we will continue to tell these stories and further demonstrate that these injuries and illnesses should be viewed as a public health crisis.”

The full story can be viewed on ITV Sport’s YouTube channel:

For more information about the research, please contact Keith (email protected).