The son of 1966 World Cup legend Nobby Stiles has called the lack of support for professional footballers who develop dementia a “national scandal”.
John Stiles spoke to Martin Daubney on GB News about the plight of former players struggling with the condition.
“It’s a national scandal as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
“The players who are getting dementia in football are far above the national average between three and five times, according to Professor Willie Stewart.”
John Stiles called the lack of support a 'national scandal'
|GB NEWS
He outlined the personal impact on his family, revealing the high cost of care for his father.
“Just to give you an idea, my dad was in a care home for four years. His care costs were £125,000 a year
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“If my dad hadn’t had some medals, and if my dad hadn’t been so poorly, my mum would have been in a terrible state financially.
“That's happening to lots of other football families, so we want a proper fund, not the £1million PR thing they've put up with the PFA and the Premier League.
"We want a proper fund to take care of players who get poorly.
“The FA haven't put anything towards helping players. And I found it such an irony.
"I have to say, I thought it was one of the most emotional things I've ever seen before a match, when I saw the patients, if you like, come out with the England team, it was very, very moving. And I have no beef with that.
“That's just Alzheimer's. Anybody who suffers from dementia needs more help than they get at the moment in this country, that's for sure.
"That was a beautiful thing to watch, but the irony of it is that 50 per cent of the team that won the World Cup got dementia, far above the national average, and received no help.
Nobby Stiles passed away five years ago from dementia
|GETTY
"What's going on? We want football to take care of its own problem. We've got the science, and we know that it's heading the ball that's killing these footballers and we want a proper fund.
“And the other night, whilst the emotion of watching those people come out, it was great for them, and I thought it was very moving, but I was sort of disgusted at the hypocrisy.
“This is the FA who won't help towards anything financially, towards looking after the players who are poorly with dementia, and I found that bit hard to swallow.”
He added: “To put it into context, there's 55,000 ex-footballers in this country.
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"The national average for people getting dementia is about between 8 per cent and 10 per cent.
"Now, if you work on those figures, it's three times more than likely than the national average, which is the lower end of the scale, as far as I'm concerned, that could mean that 16,000 ex-footballers are going to get dementia.
“A million-pound fund, it's a joke. It's been put up as a PR scam by the PFA and the Premier League, and that's the only help that's out there. And as far as I'm concerned, it's pitiful.
“We need proper help for players when they go, particularly when they go into care homes. And it's not happening.”