Dementia has robbed us of too many Scottish footballing legends.
Lisbon Lions Billy McNeill, Stevie Chalmers and Bertie Auld, Dundee United’s Frank Kopel and even Scotland boss Ally MacLeod have lost their lives to this cruellest of diseases.
Other heroes like Denis Law and Gordon McQueen are battling the incurable condition.
It is fitting that a Scots-led team are leading the latest research which could give hope to those affected by the devastating condition.
The ground breaking study – backed by England’s Football Association and Fifa – will recruit 120 ex-professional players to compare their brain health with those in the general population.
Early detection of the condition, together with an examination of brain health therapies, could lead to the dementia risk being lessened for ex-footballers.
The study comes on the back of Scots research which showed the risk of dementia among pro footballers was three-and-a-half times greater than expected.
Professor Willie Stewart is a very different kind of footballing hero and has led the way with research and statistics which sent shockwaves through the footballing world.
As a result, football training for children has been changed, in the hope of preventing the next generation of players being similarly affected.
We can only hope and pray that his dedication to the subject helps his team to find something which will halt the dementia deaths of our heroes and ease their suffering.
Time to pay up
The Child Maintenance Service should be playing a vital role in cutting poverty levels.
The Government department is supposed to help parents receive money they are owed from their ex-partners.
But research from One Parent Families Scotland paints a troubling picture of how ineffective this organisation has been.
A consultation of single parents found that eight in 10 were dissatisfied or highly dissatisfied with the speed and quality of the service.
More than 80 per cent also said they felt the level of child maintenance was not adequate to meet their children’s needs.
Charity CEO Satwat Rehman said the findings backed what they are told about the CMS – that parents are frustrated by delays, poor customer service and a failure to collect the payments.
They are demanding a range of reforms, from stronger enforcement to better case management.
The CMS needs to change and win the support of the parents who depend on their service to make ends meet.
