Mystery Of Manchester United Star Luke Shaw’s Head Injury Highlights Ignorance Over Brain Damage

Paul Sorene

21st, May 2015

5 Comments

What’s wrong with Manchester United’s Luke Shaw? Gareth Southgate says Shaw’s omission from England’s Under-21 European Championship squad is down to an injury he cannot tell us about.

Reports are that Manchester United have ordered the England U21 coach not to reveal the nature of Shaw’s illness.

We’re left to wonder if Shaw’s injury is linked to the concussion he suffered in United’s 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on 9 May, but all Southgate says is:

“A couple of squads ago we had a couple of injuries where we talked about detail and clubs are preferring us not to go too far.”

But it’s fair to ask why Shaw cannot be ready for the Euros which begin in the third week of June.

“I cannot answer that. These young players are not ours, we don’t own them,” Southgate continues.

“It is not a case of a rest, it is a case of him not going to be fit for us.

“We have 27 players [on the long list] who if we were giving the clubs the option of resting them they would take it.”

If you can’t identify the injury that deprives your squad of its brightest players, won’t some assume Manchester United helped pick the England team in a way that Spurs could not, with Harry Kane being selected against his club’s wishes?

 

Carry Off

 

Of course concussion is a serious issue. For too long, the thinking was that a blow to the head could be shaken off. (The above picture is from 18th April 1938. It shows Ted Drake, the Arsenal centre-forward, being carried off the field by the Arsenal trainer after being knocked unconscious during a match between Brentford and Arsenal at Griffin Park.)

Patrick Battiston is forever linked with the most awful foul in World Cup history. It was the semi-final of World Cup ’82 when West Germany’s Harald Schumacher wiped out the Frenchman.

The horrific arse-first assault cost Battiston two teeth, three broken ribs, damaged vertebrae and his consciousness. When told Battiston had lost some teeth, Schumacher replied, “I will pay for the crowns.”

That damage we could see. But what of the impact on the stricken player’s brain? Tell Schumacher he has damaged Battison’s brain and would the German have been so gauche?

 

 

American goalkeeper Anna Cassell describes how she had to retire from football after multiple head injuries:

“Unfortunately, the harm of these concussions extend beyond the field. I suffered severe headaches, bouts of anxiety and depression, and balance problems, which all contributed to my falling weeks behind in my pre-med studies.”

“As I think about this sad trend, I am struck by two things. The first is the lack of convincing research regarding concussion prevention. I am also bothered by the lack of consequences for the opposing players who commit fouls that cause concussions.

“While referees are instructed to “protect the goalkeeper,” neither of the players who gave me my concussions had any sort of meaningful consequences, despite the fact that both were flagrant fouls where neither of them made any contact with the ball.

“While their team merely lost possession of the ball, I was losing my soccer career.”

 

 

Football journalist Michael Goodman has listed more cases:

“There’s the first incidence of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) to be found in a former soccer player (Patrick Grange).

” While CTE [also known as ‘punch-drunk syndrome’] can only be conclusively diagnosed posthumously — and has been in an increasing number of former NFL players — a number of the living have also been diagnosed with signs of the disease.

“Then there’s former U.S. Women’s National Team goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who underwent surgery to relieve migraines stemming from concussions. Or the recent FIFPro study showing that among retired players “mental illness seems to occur among former professional footballers more often than in current players and more often than in other populations.

“Consequently, mental illness among former professional footballers cannot be underestimated and should be a subject of interest for all stakeholders in football.”

“There’s the case of Eddie Johnson (the British one, not the American one), who is suing the Portland Timbers over allegedly allowing him to practice with concussion-like symptoms. And there’s a study on the disturbingly high number concussions in girls’ youth soccer. The list goes on.”

Are we ignoring a problem that has lasting implications for footballers’ lives?

 

 

Thankfully, concussion is just starting to be taken more seriously. This season saw the introduction of a new rules that mean a player suffering a head injury must leave the pitch and only be allowed to return if cleared by a club doctor, a decision once made by the team managers or coaching staff.

All Premier League players are required to have baseline neurological assessments as part of their annual medical check-up to help doctors measure their recovery time if they suffer a concussion.

And there is the work of The Jeff Astle Foundation, named in honour of the West Brom player who died in 2002 of a brain trauma caused by heading heavy leather footballs during his career. It aims to raise awareness of brain injury in sport at all levels of the game and provide support for sports people living with the affects of dementia or chronic neurological impairment.

We as fans only question the veracity of Luke Shaw’s injury simply because we fail to understand the damage caused by a head trauma.

Posted in Injuries, International football, Man Utd, Newsnow, Opinion

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5 Comments

  1. David Hoffenheim says:

    tldr

  2. MG says:

    Great article – it’s a subject that needs to be discussed more

  3. Straight Dave says:

    @David Hoffenheim

    So the article was too long for you to read, but yet you still felt the need to post a response. Idiot.

  4. Ron says:

    Definitely something that needs to be talked about. I grew up playing soccer, lacrosse, and American football. All can involve brain trauma, but American football is truly AWFUL for the human body. On more than one occasion I got hit so hard my vision went black. NOT GOOD for the brain.

    Try telling this to the rabid fans. They don’t care. The truly criminal part is that all the owners, officials, and coaches are white. And most of the players are black. Modern day plantation. Then these guys are washed up at 30, have no education, no skills, AND brain trauma…

    “But they weren’t forced into it.” Yeah right. Blacks are still just entertainers to whites – actors, rappers, and athletes.

  5. Paul says:

    Once someone threatens to sue a big, rich club, then they’ll take it seriously

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