St Johnstone star Murray Davidson has admitted that the potential health consequences of a career spent heading a football are troubling, with links between football and dementia under increasing scrutiny.
And even though the Saints midfielder, who sustained concussion in a recent match against Motherwell, is beyond the point of changing his on-the-field habits, he has backed the calls to stop young children practicing the skill in training.
Davidson has earned a reputation as one of the most fearless and tenacious competitors in the Scottish game, exemplified by the aerial challenge that resulted in him spending a night in hospital last month.
He has passed all the medical tests that are now mandatory for head injuries in his sport and returned to action three weeks later as a substitute against his old club Livingston on Saturday.
But whether there will be long-term implications as a consequence of all those high ball duels won and lost is one of the great unknowns and fears of professional footballers – especially now the connection between football and dementia in later life has been made.
“You look at it and you are slightly concerned,” said Davidson.
“But in the olden days the balls were a lot heavier – back in the 1970s and 1980s they were proper leather and that could be part of it.
“Now the balls are pretty light.
“I have headed the ball for years and I’ve had more concussions than most, so if it’s going to happen to me the damage is probably already done.
“Is it concerning? If you look into it, yes it probably is.
“But I can’t stop heading the ball and being competitive. That’s the way I play.
“I can’t be thinking: ‘I’m not going to header this ball because it might affect me later in life’ during a game.
“I’m 32 now and if it’s going to affect me the damage is probably done.
“You just have to get on with it to a certain extent.
“The one thing I would implement is at school kids’ age. There is no point doing heading drills or anything like that.
“If you are seven to 10 years old, there’s no need for it.”
On the incident that saw him stretchered off against Motherwell, Davidson is unable to fill in all the blanks.
“I remember going up for the header, trying to jump early to get above him and that’s it,” recalled the St Johnstone man.
“I can vaguely remember being on the pitch and thinking: ‘I’m goosed here’.
“Mel, the physio, said I stopped responding and after that it was probably about half past four when things started coming back to me.
“I was just lying there looking at the ceiling because the medical staff had to do all the tests and the protocols on me.
“I went to Ninewells hospital and it was a long night. I didn’t get out and home until about 10pm.”
A law firm, understood to be in touch with 40 ex-footballers’ families, is set to go ahead with legal action to challenge the culpability of the game’s authorities over the links between football and dementia in the New Year.
Davidson added: “It was one of those things.
“The protocols now are miles better than they were when I first started playing.
“I still felt awful on the Monday. That was probably the worst day, and I had to come in to do the tests.
“You have memory tests – how you’re feeling and all that sort of stuff.
“Once two or three days have passed you can start doing things. One day you sit on the bike then go home. If you’re symptom-free then you come back in and build it up more.
“In all, it’s seven to 10 days of building it up before you go back into contact training.
“It’s far stricter now than when I started. Ten years or so ago if you got concussed, when you felt fine you could go back to training.
“But now it’s taken out of players’ hands and the medical staff are great.
“It’s frustrating because by the time the Wednesday or Thursday comes along you feel fine, but they are in control and they make sure you take it easy.”
I had a neck brace on and all I could hear was the doctors saying ‘Ali’.”
Davidson was joined in hospital by Craig Conway after the former Dundee United winger had his nose broken in the same Motherwell game. And for a while, he thought there were even more St Johnstone players in accident and emergency.
“I had a neck brace on and all I could hear was the doctors saying ‘Ali’ so I thought it was Ali McCann who was there with me,” said Davidson.
“It turns out, one of the staff there was called Ali and it wasn’t until later on when I got to Ninewells that I remember the nurse saying: ‘Have you seen Mr Conway’s nose’?
“So at that time I was thinking Ali had hurt his nose and Craig had hurt his nose, so all three of us were in the hospital!
“It wasn’t until later on I was able to piece things together when Craig put a photo on the group chat with his nose pointing in two different directions.”
Davidson obviously didn’t take any satisfaction from Saturday’s defeat to Livingston which ended a long Saints unbeaten run.
But there is pride in the fact that by coming off the bench for the last few minutes he has gone past Alan Main and into third spot in the all-time appearance list for the McDiarmid Park club.
It is always good to get milestones like that.”
“I didn’t know that,” said Davidson, who has now played in 362 Saints games.
“Alan is a club legend and when I first signed here, he was a big part of the team.
“It’s always good to get to milestones like that. But I just want to play as many games as I can and see where it takes me.”
The hope is that appearance number 363 at Dunfermline takes him into a Betfred Cup semi-final.
“I definitely appreciate cup runs more now than when I was 21 or 22,” said Davidson.
“I can always remember playing Dundee United at McDiarmid and we got beat.
“After the game everyone was going mental. It was a bad dressing room.
“Del (Derek McInnes) was having a go and so were the experienced players.
“I remember thinking we were out of the cup but we could relax a bit. But now I see how important the cups are.
“As you get older you appreciate it more. And every year we start out wanting to progress through the cup competitions.
“This is a big opportunity for both teams to reach a semi-final. It’s one you don’t want to let pass you by.
“We have progressed well this season but Dunfermline will fancy their chances.
“I’m sure it will be a great game.”
