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Scottish Football Association Restricts Heading around Match Days

  • Submitted by: Gillian Mackay, Central Scotland, Scottish Green Party.
  • Date lodged: Thursday, 02 February 2023
  • Motion reference: S6M-07682

That the Parliament acknowledges that the Scottish Football Association has implemented new guidelines pertaining to heading the ball and head injuries; notes that the guidance has already come into effect and includes the banning of exercises with repeated heading of the ball more than once a week, and on the day before and after a match; understands that the guidance is supported by scientific evidence that shows that former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely than a member of the public to suffer from brain disease, five times more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s, and four times more likely to suffer from motor neurone disease; further understands that men and women’s professional teams across Scotland were consulted before the release of the guidelines, and that more than 70% of clubs surveyed in the Scottish Professional Football League and Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup supported the introduction of the guidelines, and acknowledges what it sees as the importance of these new regulations in ensuring that football is safer for professionals of the game.


Supported by: Colin Beattie, Miles Briggs, Donald Cameron, Maggie Chapman, Graeme Dey, Natalie Don, Pam Duncan-Glancy, Ross Greer, Bill Kidd, Fulton MacGregor, Ruth Maguire, John Mason, Stuart McMillan, Carol Mochan, Emma Roddick, Mark Ruskell, Paul Sweeney, Mercedes Villalba