Expert has a serious health warning for Aussie kids who’ve been inspired to take up soccer after watching the Matildas at the World Cup

The Women’s World Cup has led to a huge spike in enrollments for youth football programs – but a doctor has warned Aussie children that one aspect of the game could pose a risk to their health.

According to Dr Kerry Peek, a lecturer in physiotherapy at the University of Sydney and a member of Football Australia’s Expert Working Group on Heading and Concussion, parents should be wary of their children heading the ball.

“It’s a skill that usually isn’t taught until a child approaches high school age,” she told the The Sydney Morning Herald.

“With head, there are two concerns: there’s the short-term risk of concussion, and then there’s also the long-term risk of repeated head impacts.”

Kennedy (pictured battling for a header against France’s Eugenie Le Sommer) has been ruled out of the Matildas World Cup play-offs against Sweden with a concussion

Peek said heading is an important part of the game that shouldn’t be banned, but young players shouldn’t start practicing it until the right age.

“If we look at (Matildas Captain) Sam Kerr, she’s a master at this. There’s a big difference between what she’s doing and just sticking your head in the way and bouncing the ball,” she said.

Peek suggested introducing children to heads by taking a rolled-up ball of newspaper, throwing it at the child’s head, and letting them catch it with their hands to get them used to following the ball’s flight.

Kids who can catch that ball with their eyes open may be ready to learn how to head safely. But when they turn or duck, those kids aren’t even close to the head,” she explained.

Peek was the lead author of a paper advising all football associations to work on limiting the total number of headers players make during training.

A training drill where the ball is kept up for as long as possible by heading is about doctors

Since 2020, the Football Association of England (FA) has advised all clubs not to teach children under the age of 12 how to head the ball.

The FA advocates a ‘graduated’ approach to introducing the skill, whereby a player under the age of 16 should not use their head more than 10 times a week, including matches and training.

There is no such ban in Australia.

Another leading doctor is even more adamant that young Australian players should be barred from repeatedly heading footballs as it predisposes them to brain damage.

NSW-based Dr Adrian Cohen, a concussion researcher at Headsafe, said the routine play could have serious consequences.

“Think of each cup as transferring energy to your brain; you have a lifetime dose of energy equivalent to the number of times you head the ball,” Cohen said.

He wants heads removed from all youth practices.

Heading the ball hurts. Kids don’t like doing it. Why are we letting them go through this?” he asked.

The governing body FIFA has been repeatedly accused of ‘procrastinating’, while other federations with different codes have published advice to protect players from the risk of dementia and other illnesses linked to headbutts.

Meanwhile, in June 2020, UEFA released a small set of recommendations that attempted to limit the number of times young players head.

Some of the worst injuries sustained while heading the ball come from head impacts

To help prevent balls being in the air and thus creating a temptation to head them, Football NSW have consulted with Peek and made changes to the goal kicks.

Kicking restrictions for players under the age of 11 include a ban on drop kicks, which have been replaced with a place kick because it helps keep the ball on the ground.

One factor behind the growing concern among football players is the effect of repeatedly heading the ball, which does not cause concussion, but can result in subtle changes in brain function that go unnoticed.