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From BBC Scotland today:

Heading in football has been under the spotlight for more than 20 years – scrutiny born of fear and confusion. Fear that the act itself could have long-term effects on the brains of those who do it most.

and:

New data shows the Scottish Premiership records significantly more headers per match than most of Europe’s top leagues. BBC Scotland looked at figures from the start of season 2021 until now, covering aerial duels and headed clearances, in the top leagues of Scotland, England, Italy, France, Germany and Spain.

In the Premiership, players challenge for the ball in the air, on average, 42.5 times per match – a 71% increase on France’s Ligue 1, at 28.5 times per match. Fans watching the Premier League in England can expect to see 28.7 aerial duels per match – nearly 50% fewer than Scotland.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c1w5z2e003no

There is no mention of the methods used by the ‘researchers’ nor access to the full report, if there is one, nor to the data tables.

I’m reminded of the time they requested the raw data for my research which had, they claimed, brought them into disrepute.

Is there credible published research on this?

Yes:

A 2021 study analyzed 7,147 matches across the Big 5 leagues [Spain, Italy, Germany, France, England] and the English Championship from the 2016/17 to 2018/19 seasons, using Opta Sports data to track heading events.

• English Premier League: 111.2 headers per match (the highest among the Big 5 leagues).
• English Championship (second-tier): 139.0 headers per match (the highest overall in the dataset).
• The study did not provide exact per-match averages for the other Big 5 leagues (Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga, Serie A) but implied they were lower than the Premier League’s rate, with variations influenced by playing style and level of competition.
• Per-player averages: Approximately 3.7–5 headers per player per match across these leagues, based on aggregated data (e.g., 81.5 total headers per game in some cohorts, divided among 22 players). researchgate.net

Source – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33280186

No doubt there will be differences in measuring but this published research suggests a higher level in England – 111.2 headers, than BBC Scotland’s 42.5 for Scottish football.

Note – In Scottish vernacular, “heid” refers to the head, and “baw” refers to the testicles, but when combined in the phrase “heid the baw”, it is used figuratively to describe someone as stupid or foolish rather than literally referring to anatomy. 

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:

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Click on the above.

Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04  Account - 12266421 Name - JOHN ROBERTSON