Nobby Stiles case has boosted campaign for research into football and brain disease, say supporters

The story of Nobby Stiles’ struggle with dementia has heightened awareness of the fight for research into possible links between degenerative brain disease and football, campaigners have told The Independent.

Stiles, 74, has been fighting Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia for 15 years and has now lost the powers of speech, though his family’s decision to make public his plight in The Independent last week encouraged seven new families to approach the Jeff Astle Foundation, which is leading the campaign.

“It has definitely made a difference,” said Dawn Astle, daughter of Jeff Astle, whose family’s quest for research into the possible links began after an inquest concluded that his own dementia had been brought on by repeatedly heading a football. “In some ways it's sad it has to be this way, but players like Nobby Stiles and the other 1966 World Cup team who are struggling are household names and this can make a difference. Nobby, especially so, because he was so loved. People remember him jogging along with his socks down and it’s hard to recognise how he is now.”

Astle died 15 years ago last Thursday, though despite the promise after his inquest that research would be undertaken to investigate whether or not there might be a link, there has been none. The Astles are in touch with dozens of families though the Stiles case resonates deeply, because the West Bromwich Albion centre forward and Manchester United wing back were England teammates at the 1970 World Cup. Astle considered Stiles a good friend.

Ms Astle said that many of the families who had been in contact had mentioned others in the same team as their husband and father who had also been afflicted. “Ninety per cent of those who contact us also mentioned teammates,” she said. “That’s why we believe the number of players who are known to have been affected bears no comparison to the total number out there."

The Foundation is engaged in the delicate task of encouraging players who are afflicted to agree to the donation of their brain tissue for research after death. Ms Astle said that the struggle for recognition for some families stemmed from the fact that the players in question were comparatively obscure. Astle was an England international, the first person to score a goal in every round of an FA Cup and a legend at WBA, yet still not known to many.

Nobby Stiles’ brother-in-law John Giles, brother of the former Manchester United player’s wife, Kay, has disclosed who hard it been for Stiles’ wife to make public the family’s struggle.

"He has suffered and Kay has suffered in the last few years," Giles said, who indicated that his sister had been reluctant to publicise the story, or to go to the PFA looking for help.

"In Nobby's case there has been no approach to Kay from the Professional Footballers Association," the former Leeds United and Republic of Ireland midfielder added. "As far as I know, there is a policy that you have to approach the PFA [for help] and Kay wouldn't do that anyway. Most people wouldn't. You are putting out the begging bowl and most people have their pride." Stiles won 28 caps for England and made 395 appearances for Manchester United over 11 seasons.

At least four of Sir Alf Ramsey’s World Cup winning starting XI are suffering with dementia or memory loss. The Football Association’s recently appointed head of performance medicine, Dr Charlotte Cowie is leading efforts to get research commissioned. But experts have not yet been engaged to look at the subject.