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Could the World Cup have messed with your brain? Well possibly... but only if you're on the field. There's evidence that soccer may be riskier for the brain than rugby — at least at an elite level. And the header seems to be the culprit. Could the World Cup have messed with your brain? Well possibly... but only if you're on the field. Because there's evidence that soccer — most boys' Mums' preferred sport to that nasty rugby — that soccer may be riskier for the brain, at least at an elite level. And the header seems to be the culprit. Several studies have reported damaged thinking ability and memory in soccer players. These include results from professional teams in Holland, which suggest it's not the knockout that's the problem. It's the trauma from headers. The more headers (some players do 2000 of them in a season), the more signs of harm. Should that now put Mums off both soccer and rugby? Probably not. An American study, which did extensive tests on university students just as they enrolled for first year, compared kids who'd played soccer at high school with those who'd played other sports, including American Football. There was no difference in brain function. So the problem seems to be at the elite level. The important thing, though, for kids in any sport, is to have strict rules for knocks to the head which result in symptoms. Players should come off immediately and stay off for seven days.
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