Re: Alan Jarvis
Jeff Astle a centre forward with West Brom & England was another - his demise was well documented around the time.
Any of us older followers will recall how much footballs have changed since our younger days - I recall playing for my junior school in the winter when the lace up heavy duty leather cased balls got very wet and increased in weight - they were hard enough to kick never mind head. Later playing centre half and repeatedly being the one to stick your head on a ball that was launched into orbit by the opposition goalkeeper was never a pleasure - used to often think the same about Mark Creighton who you would describe as a 'solid' header of the ball.
Suppose similar could be said about boxing - taking blows to the head over a prolonged period of any kind isn't going to help - perhaps this issue was prevalant in earlier decades but only recently is it becoming more understood.
I followed Everton as a kid in the late 60's / 70' when they had a fantastic team under the leadership of Harry Catrick and the pools tycoon John Moores - I don't recall Alan Jarvis so his appearance record would be interesting to see. Out of interest too, what position did he play ? as players in the centre back / centre forward roles seem more likely to suffer due to the more frequent times they head the ball in their positions.
|