Stephen Robinson insists St Mirren will “play their part” in protecting players from developing dementia after they’ve retired.
The Scottish FA announced strict new guidance this week which limits the number of headers players need to make in training, with repeated heading exercises now limited to just once a week. They must also not be carried out at all either the day before or after a match.
The decision comes in the wake of research carried out by the SFA and the University of Glasgow which discovered footballers are three-and-a-half times more likely to die as a result of a brain disease than the general public.
While the move will cause some disruption to the Buddies’ training schedule, Robinson firmly believes that pales into insignificance when it comes to footballers’ long-term health.
He told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “First and foremost, medically, if factually that’s been found to be a big issue, and obviously it has, then I think people’s health and players’ health has to come before anything.
“If that is what we are being told to do, you have to follow that to the letter.
“You see the stories [about former players developing dementia]. I heard a lady on TalkSport the other day saying one of the older players couldn’t remember anything about the games. He couldn’t remember anything about the people he played with and that is criminal.
“If there is a way we can prevent that, then we all have to play our part.
“Players’ health is more important than maybe taking three or four corners. You still walk through everything and can use video footage thanks to technology.
“It certainly makes it different. I think every manager will do the same as myself currently in that the day before a game you work on your set plays.
“It’ll be a little bit of an adjustment in the sense you will need to be ahead of yourself, as in preparing on a Thursday for things like that.
“I think heading is going out of the game a lot, anyway. You see a lot less of it, even in the younger games. From the 14s down in certain countries, it’s been taken out completely.
“You can see it maybe going towards that direction and medically, if that’s the right thing to do, we have to all stand by it.”
The Buddies returned to training at the start of the week, with the squad put through their paces at Ralston ahead of a return to action against Motherwell on Saturday, December 17.
Before then the Saints have three pre-season friendlies lined up.
Tomorrow evening they travel south to face Blackpool in a behind-closed-doors match, before planned clashes with Kilmarnock and Ross County next week, as Scottish Premiership football gears up for a welcome return once the World Cup action is all sewn up.
Robinson was delighted with the condition his squad returned to Paisley in after their two week break, adding: “They have reported back in great shape, which I expected given the group that we have.
“It’s now just a case of us building up to the first game against Motherwell with three friendly games.
“It’s into the games and our normal routine again. We’ve got Blackpool on Friday.
“It’s a good arena and we’ll give the boys 45 minutes each.”
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