There are concerns that football players' brains are damaged by repeated head impacts ©University of East Anglia

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) are crowd-funding a new project to test former professional football players for early signs of dementia.

Recent research from the University of Glasgow has shown that retired male players are around five times more likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease compared with the average person and three-and-a-half times more likely to die of dementia.

But little is known about exactly when players start to show signs of the disease, and even less about the effects in women as the majority of research has focused on men.

The UEA team intends to use cutting-edge technology to test for early signs of dementia in men and women, that are identifiable long before any memory problems or other noticeable symptoms become apparent.

The UEA has launched a £1 million ($1.3 million/€1.2 million) fundraising goal for the research, at least 10 per cent of which they hope will be crowd-funded.

"We now know that there is much higher risk of dementia in former professional footballers, and we think this is related to repetitive heading of the ball," lead researcher Dr Michael Grey from UEA School of Health Sciences said.

"We do not know if this extends to the amateur level.

"So, there will be many footballers out there who are understandably very worried about their futures.

"We will be working with former professional players to investigate and track their brain health over time.

"We hope to follow these footballers for the rest of their lives.

"This is the first time that this type of research has been done."

Former players in the east of England will be the first to take part in the SCORES (Screening Cognitive Outcomes after Repetitive head impact Exposure in Sport) project - before the study is rolled out nationally later this year.

Former Wales and Norwich City striker Iwan Roberts, who played more than 600 games for club and country, is already backing the project.

"I played football for 20 years professionally, and headed many balls over that period," he said. 

"I want to see whether there is anything I should be concerned about in the foreseeable future.

"It's always important to improve and make things better. 

"The game has improved, balls are lighter, but the modern-day player will still be at risk of this type of illness.

"We don’t know how young children cope with heading the ball.

"I personally think that [heading the ball] should be banned from a certain age.

"The research they are doing here will help everybody."

The project is among a number of pieces of work in the Concussion Action Programme, a research group within UEA Health and Social Care Partners.

Dr Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, says the new study is a positive step ©Alzheimer’s Research UK
Dr Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, says the new study is a positive step ©Alzheimer’s Research UK

The research team are looking for former professional football players, both men and women, aged over 50 to take part in the study. 

Active non-footballers can also take part.

The research will see a small group of participants coming into a laboratory, but the majority of the testing will be done online at home.

"Recent research has highlighted an increased risk of dementia in ex-professional footballers, but we don't yet know the cause of this association," Dr Carol Routledge, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said.

"It's not yet clear whether, or how, football may need to change to address this risk and we continue to call for further research to begin to answer some of these unanswered questions.

"This new study looking for early signs of dementia is a positive step forward for dementia research and the wider football community.

"It's encouraging to see this study focus on ex-professional women footballers, as well as former male players, as there has so far been little research in this population.

"Only through a sustained investment in dementia research will we keep people connected to their families, their worlds and themselves for longer."

The original research by the University of Glasgow came amid concerns that players' brains are damaged by repeated head impacts.

Former England and West Bromwich Albion striker Jeff Astle died in 2002 at the age of 59 after suffering from early onset dementia.

A coroner found it was caused by heading footballs and gave the cause of death as "industrial disease".