As Scotland looks set to ban heading footballs for under-12s, Cumberland Football Association’s chief executive Ben Snowdon has called for further research into the issue.

Mr Snowdon admitted recent studies are concerning and said as a county FA they have tried to bring the game of Futsal to the fore for younger children, as it is played with the ball mainly on the floor.

The English FA says, “there’s no evidence” to support a ban for younger footballers at this point in time with younger players not tending to head the ball as much in matches.

But Mr Snowdon acknowledged more studies are needed.

He said: “As a father of two young children who play football and having a father, who played grassroots football all his life, and who has recently developed Alzheimer’s; this research is obviously a little concerning.

“It is something which I encourage all footballing bodies to commit funding towards further specific research.

“And I therefore welcome the announcement that there will be a specialist research taskforce to assimilate the research currently available and set the direction for new research to be commissioned both domestically and globally in order to give us a greater understanding.”

A 2017 study did conclude that professional footballers in this research were around 3.5 times more likely to die of dementia than the matched population.

But the same research also suggested that, on average, the former professional footballers in this study lived three and a quarter years longer and were less likely to die of many diseases such as heart disease or lung cancer.

The Medical & Football Advisory Group, which was formed to lead on this area of research, concluded that more research is needed into why players had been affected.

Mr Snowdon added: “As a County FA we have worked with our youth leagues in Carlisle, Penrith and west Cumbria to adopt Futsal into its foundation age fixture programme.

“This is a game which, through both its philosophy and playing equipment, is mainly played with the ball on the floor.”

And he urged coaches and parents to remember that on average there are only 1.5 headers per youth game so not to spend long periods practising the technique, or to introduce it with a soft ball.

“For now we would suggest that those involved in the grassroots game continue to enjoy the reported health and social benefits of playing this great game of ours,” he added.