2024-05-01 16:46:48
A group of 35 former footballers, several of them from the Premier League, sued various entities in English football for brain injuries they suffered while playing this sport.
The footballers’ demands were made against the English federation, the Welsh federation, the English Football League, which deals with the Second to Fourth division, and the IFAB, which is in charge of designing the rules of football, for being “negligent” when it comes to protecting footballers from suffering brain injuries caused by hitting the ball with the head
During the time that this litigation lasted, six plaintiffs already died, including Joe Kiennar, last April, who was a Tottenham Hotspur legend, Irish coach and coach of Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. His death occurred as a result of vascular dementia.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers presented 8,000 pages of medical records as evidence and concluded that the various players had to live with irreversible neurological injuries, including dementia, chronic traumatic encelopathy, post-concussion syndrome, epilepsy, Parkinson’s and motor neurone disease.
Richard Boardman, the prosecution’s lawyer, assured that this first hearing, which will be held this Wednesday pending a trial date, seeks “justice” for those who were not protected by football authorities from suffering brain damage. “The defendants are trying to prolong the process,” the lawyer accused.
An FA spokesperson stated that the entity cannot yet comment on anything as a legal process is underway, but added that the organization’s experts continually analyze and seek to improve the safety of the sport.