Man Utd legend’s loss of life ‘contributed to by damage attributable to repeatedly heading soccer’
England World Cup winner and Man Utd legend Nobby Stiles’ death was contributed to by a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner has ruled
Man United legend Nobby Stiles’ death was contributed to by a brain condition (Image: Bob Thomas Sports Photography via Getty Images)
An England 1966 World Cup winner and Man Utd legend’s’ death was contributed to by a brain injury caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner has ruled today (July 15).
Nobby Stiles died aged 78 with the injury, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been associated with head traumas, claimed to be from repeatedly heading a football. Stiles son had previously claimed that football had “killed” his father.
Stiles died with severe dementia and had headed a football around 140,000 times during his career, Stockport Coroner’s Court heard at the inquest into his death. Expert analysis of his brain showed his severe dementia was as a result of Alzheimer’s disease but also the condition, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been associated with head trauma from heading a ball.
Nobby Stiles was a World Cup winner with England in 1966(Image: Daily Mirror)
Neuro-pathology expert Dr Daniel Du Plessis told the court: “I’m quite convinced his heading the football that many times has caused his CTE.”
Alison Mutch, senior coroner for South Manchester, asked Dr Du Plessis: “You are saying repeated heading of the ball is the cause of his CTE?” “Yes,” Dr Du Plessis replied.
Norbert “Nobby” Stiles, born in Collyhurst, Manchester in 1942, was a tough-tackling defensive midfielder, capped 28 times by England and played nearly 400 times for Man Utd.
Stiles, who lived in Stretford, south Manchester, died in a care home on October 30 2020, having been left bed-bound by his severe dementia.
Stiles headed the ball around 140,000 times during his career, the inquest heard (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)
In January 2024 his family raised the possibility of CTE as contributing to his death and Dr Du Plessis examined brain tissue samples to reach his medical conclusions.
Stiles’ family have been campaigning for football authorities to do more to help ex-players cope with injuries they claim were caused during their playing days.
Stiles’s son John has previously said that football had “killed” his father. John is head of the Football Families for Justice (FFJ) group which is calling on the football authorities to do more after his father was forced to sell his winner’s medals to fund his dementia care.
Coroner Ms Mutch said to John it was “quite strange we are having this conversation on a day like this” but the witness said his father “never talked, he never bragged” about being a World Cup winner.
He added: “He was proud of it but we were always much more proud of the father he was than the footballer.”
John told the court his father loved Manchester United and the Busby Babes, joining the club as an apprentice aged 15 in 1957.
He is among dozens of former footballers and their families suing the Football Association, the Football Association of Wales and the English Football League over claims they were “negligent and in breach of their duty of care” to the former players.
Lawyers for the former players and their families have previously said football bodies knew or should have known that repeatedly heading a ball in training and during matches was likely to cause brain injuries, and that the risks were known for decades.
Nobby Stiles along with fellow Man Utd legends George Best and Bobby Charlton (Image: Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
In March this year, lawyers for The Football Association told the High Court it has “not been established by science” that heading a ball or “occasional” concussion can lead to permanent brain damage.
In January, an inquest into the death Gordon McQueen, 70, an ex-Scotland, Manchester United and Leeds United defender, found that heading the ball was “likely” to have contributed to a brain injury which was a factor in his death.
McQueen was also diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). His TV presenter daughter Hayley McQueen said England’s 1966 World Cup winning team had now been “pretty much wiped out” by neurodegenerative disease.
The FA co-funded with the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) a 2019 study that found footballers were three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population. The FA is phasing out all heading in youth football up to under-11s by 2026.
