England World Cup hero Nobby Stiles ‘died with brain condition caused by heading the ball’ | UK | News

England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died with a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, a coroner has ruled. Stiles, 78, a former Manchester United footballer and 1966 World Cup winner, 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 a result of Alzheimer’s disease but also of the condition, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been associated with head trauma from heading a ball.

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?” Dr Du Plessis replied: “Yes.”

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.

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’ son John told the hearing: “My dad was very humble, he just happened to have achieved quite a lot.

“It never really changed him. If you went into his house you would never know he was a footballer.

“He was very much a family man, football was left at the door. The family was always the first priority.”

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.”

Mr Stiles told the court his father loved Manchester United and the Busby Babes, joining the club as an apprentice aged 15 in 1957.

He said he had watched his father during his training and playing days and estimated he headed the ball around 40 times a day, for five days a week, over a career in the game stretching to 17 years, calculating a “conservative” estimate of 136,000 headers in total.

And he said footballs when his father played weighed around 16 ounces but would get heavier when wet.

He told the court, while modern balls no longer absorb water, studies have shown heading even a modern ball is equivalent to around 80% of the impact of a boxer’s punch.

Mr Stiles said that when his father was in his late 50s and early 60s, his family noticed he began forgetting things and repeating himself.

In 2010, he sold his winning medals to pay for his care as his mental struggles progressed, leaving him with increasing anxiety and a sense of doom.

“To be honest with you, he was frightened,” Mr Stiles said of his father.

John Stiles is head of the Football Families for Justice (FFJ) group which is calling on the football authorities to do more for ex-players.

Coroner Ms Mutch recorded the cause of Mr Stiles’ death to be Alzheimer’s disease, contributed to by “high stage” CTE, along with what was described as “stage three limbic predominant age related TDP-43” and cerebrovascular disease.

Ms Mutch continued: “In terms of why he developed CTE, I’m entirely satisfied on the balance of the evidence before me today, the reason he developed CTE was because of the repeated heading of the ball during the course of his football career. Without the repeated heading of the ball it is unlikely he would have developed it.

“The CTE was caused by the requirement to repeatedly head a football during his time playing football.”

The hearing was told that during training and matches, Stiles and other players were required to head the ball repeatedly.

At Manchester United’s Old Trafford home, players were encouraged to practise by heading a football hanging from a ceiling on a string.

The coroner added: “Unfortunately that was something that was to have a profound impact on him in his later life.

“Mr Stiles probably had little idea about it, I’m sure when he was wandering past that ball dangling from a string at United’s ground, he gave little thought to the consequences of heading a ball repeatedly.

“Of course it is poignant we should be hearing his inquest today of all days when England are playing this evening.

“I’m sure if he was here today he would be wishing them well and hoping this is the year they do it.”