Pause for reflection
Yesterday for my sins I spent time at my computer with Good Morning Britain – ITV’s early morning magazine show – on this occasion featuring its supposed ‘box-office couple’ presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, providing ‘moving wallpaper’ accompaniment in the background.
By chance a remote interview then occurred with all-time motor racing great Sir Jackie Stewart, now 81.
For Rusters who need the nudge – and these days, who doesn’t? – during his nine seasons (1965-1973) competing in Formula One before retiring from it at the age of 34, he won three World Titles and was runner-up twice.
It would be something of a cliché at this point, but also true, for me to comment that one of his most remarkable achievements was in the fact he lived long enough to retire because in those days the attrition rate in terms of driver deaths and life-changing injuries was so much greater than it is today.
Subsequently, of course, he has remained connected with Formula One in various roles, not least as a team manager, campaigner for driver safety, pundit, grandee, elder statesman, sage and go-to interviewee.
In recent years, however – and sadly – he has worked with, and become a campaigner on dementia issues, including setting up the charity Race Against Dementia, after his former model wife Helen became diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia in 2016.
It so happened that yesterday Sir Jackie was appearing on Good Morning Britain in order to pay tribute to his great friend (Sir) Sean Connery – the original, and for many the ‘only’ real James Bond – who died on 31st October aged 90 and whom, it has subsequently been revealed by his wife, had also been suffering in recent years from dementia.
Stewart has always been a class act and he delivered a low-key but moving series of comments and reminiscences on his mate, testifying to the fact that, as both and actor and human being, Connery had been so much more than just the man who personified the Bond franchise better than any other.
Stewart also revealed that – in their last meeting a few months back – Connery had been much diminished as a result of his affliction and, tellingly, only mentioned once in passing that his own Helen was on a similar path.
Overnight – on my regular journey around the world’s media – I have come across many more reports and mentions of dementia, not least on the back of the announcement of the death of Manchester United and England 1966 World Cup success legend Nobby Stiles and the separate news that Sir Bobby Charlton (another legend of said club and Word Cup success) is now also suffering from it.
In the 21st Century world sport generally has made huge advances in all aspects of participant safety and dementia has been at the forefront of much of this, largely because – in all activities involving physical contact and potential blows to the head [step forward as prime exhibits boxing, American Football, rugby – both codes – and, of 
course, football] medical research has demonstrated conclusively that even serious one-off traumatic accidental blows to the head, never mind repeated ditto deliberately inflicted by others as part of the ‘activity’ involved … or indeed voluntarily accepted, e.g. by a footballer in “heading” the ball … can both cause and/or exacerbate long-term (age-related) deterioration or damage to the brain.
None of the above, of course, is exactly rocket science.
In these days of greater “awareness” of these matters there are some big issues being addressed and some of them are many-faceted and/or complicated.
Boxing and martial arts are classic examples in the dock from those arguing against them on principle because – logically – at a fundamental level “the object of the game” (and much of its excitement) stems from hurting the opponent to the point of submission and/or unconsciousness.
Rugby and American football are perhaps one rung lower because their very natures involve full-on physical collisions, any of which can cause (unintentional) concussion, broken bones, ruptured ligaments and muscles … and then long periods of recovery. And, of course, in any event, because of the general attrition rate, short careers.
Football comes perhaps another rung lower. Yet the “heading the ball” aspect – and indeed the skills taught in order to make a player a better all-round exponent of his trade as either an attacker or defender – and again, arguably, one of the key components of a competitive and thrilling match is clearly under threat.
Two thought occurred to me as I watched Sir Jackie Stewart on television yesterday – and subsequently read the various media reports touching upon dementia and sport.
The first is that – to some extent – risks to health are part of human existence. They cannot all be eliminated.
Or perhaps I should say “If all health risks had to be removed before human beings could indulge in and/or watch a specific sporting activity, there’d barely be a sport left worth watching”.
Or indeed worth participating in.
I’d hazard a guess that if it were possible to take a poll of all participants in elite sport in history – or even just the last 150 years – in which they were given chapter and verse of what health risks they had run in becoming elite sportsmen and women (whether at the time, or in later life as a result of taking part) at least 85% of them would not have chosen a different life-path to the one they did.
The second thought I had was that – the simple fact is – part of the reason that these days dementia and similar issues tend to feature more in current arguments and discussions over public health policy and ‘later life’ care is because these days people live longer.
Fifty years ago a far greater proportion of the population appeared never to get dementia because – to be frank – they died of something else first, or at least before the symptoms presented themselves.
