The city where they decided that football should not involve headers
Headers seem to us an inseparable part of a football game, but more and more cities and countries are deciding that, at least for young ages, it is not legitimate.
For more than a hundred years, heading has been an inseparable part of football. But in the Italian city of Como, they decided that for children, at least, it is time to change that.
The municipal club in the northern tip of Italy announced a new program in its educational institutions, designed to significantly reduce the amount of head injuries: up to age 10 there are no headers at all – not in training and not in games; even at age 11 they are almost non-existent, and in subsequent ages they are reintroduced gradually and in limited quantities. Even corner kicks for young children are performed on the ground only.
Behind the move is also Raphaël Varane, a former world champion with the French national team and currently a member of the educational staff of Como. Varane previously shared that he suffered from several concussions during his career, and that in some cases he continued to play despite the symptoms. He said that the experience caused him to warn his son against headers.
The fear is not only of a single concussion, but of the accumulation of hundreds and thousands of small impacts over the years. Research does not yet provide a definitive answer regarding the long-term damage in children, but the concern is significant enough to lead countries like the USA and England to have already adopted similar restrictions in youth football in recent years.
Como is essentially asking a simple question: if it is possible to learn to head the ball at a later age, why start taking balls to the head at age eight?
